List of Famous people who died at 61

Bazilio Olara-Okello was a Ugandan military officer and one of the commanders of the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) that together with the Tanzanian army overthrew Idi Amin in 1979. In 1985, he was briefly the chairman of the ruling Military Council and de facto head of state of Uganda, and later, lieutenant-general and chief of the armed forces.

Horst Käsler was a German handball player, coach, and author.

Mustafa Suha Arın was a Turkish film director, writer, producer and educator. He was born in Balikesir, Turkey. He completed his primary and secondary education in Ankara. In 1965, he went to USA to receive his license degree on film directing from Howard University and his master's degree on mass communication from the American University. He also worked as a translating speaker and interviewer at the Voice of America Radio, and as the Washington DC reporter of Turkish Radio and Television. He returned to Turkey in 1974.

Sisowath Sirik Matak was a member of the Cambodian royal family, under the House of Sisowath.

Dudley Shelton Senanayake 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan statesman who served as Prime Minister of Ceylon from 1952 to 1953, in 1960 and from 1965 to 1970 and Leader of the Opposition from 1960 to 1964. Senanayake's tenures as prime minister were associated with democratic socialist policies focused on agricultural and educational reforms with a pro-western alignment.

Jacob (Bob) den Uyl was a Dutch writer of mostly short stories. His writing style is mostly ironic and observant. The most prominent theme in his work is the purposelessness and absurdity of existence. His earlier work consists mostly of absurd stories. In his later work, the focus of his writing shifted to more autobiographic stories, mostly concerned with travels in neighbouring countries of The Netherlands. Recurring elements in his work are:

• His experiences as a child during World War II
• World War I
• His love for bicycle racing
• His alcohol use
• The city of Rotterdam