List of Famous people who died at 61

Julia Stimson Thorne was an American writer. She was the first wife of John Kerry, who was U.S. Senator during their marriage and later a 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, a U.S. Secretary of State, and a U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim was the sixth Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia from 21 September 1975 to his death, and the 27th Sultan of Kelantan (1960–1979).

Zarifa Aziz gizi Aliyeva was an Azerbaijani ophthalmologist, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and professor.

Inga Nielsen was a Danish soprano who had an active international opera career from 1971 to 2006. A child prodigy, Nielsen performed on American radio during the 1950s, beginning at the age of six, and also released some commercial recordings of Danish folk songs and Christmas carols as a child. She began her opera career performing parts in the lyric soprano repertory and then became an admired singer of dramatic soprano roles, beginning in the late 1980s. She was a particularly renowned interpreter of the roles of Konstanze in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and the title role in Richard Strauss's Salome. She excelled in portraying some of the more rarely heard and demanding dramatic soprano roles such as the woman in Arnold Schoenberg's Erwartung, Ursula in Mathis der Maler and Jenny in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.