List of Famous people who died at 61

Shmuel "Gorodish" Gonen was an Israeli general and Chief of the Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces during the Yom Kippur War.

Karl Heinrich Klaustermeyer was a member of the Nazi Party who served in the Gestapo, NSKK, and SA. During World War II, he was stationed in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he personally murdered multiple Jewish civilians and participated in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. After the war, he settled down in West Germany. Klaustermeyer was investigated by German prosecutors and arrested in the early 1960s. In 1965, he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to life in prison by the Bielefeld regional court. He was released from prison in 1976 on compassionate grounds due to terminal cancer and died less than two weeks later.

Shirley Anne Walker was an American film and television composer and conductor. She was one of the few female film score composers working in Hollywood. Walker was one of the first female composers to earn a solo score credit on a major Hollywood motion picture and according to the Los Angeles Times, will be remembered as a pioneer for women in the film industry.

Ian Porterfield was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coach of the Armenian national team.

Michel Bernholc (1941–2002) was a French composer, arranger and producer. Using the pseudonym Mike Steiphenson, he wrote and produced the 1971 hit "Burundi Black", which made #31 on the UK Singles Chart and #74 in Australia.

Bruno Gamberini was the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Campinas, Brazil.

Ahmed Jdey is a Tunisian author, historian, and professor.