List of Famous people who died at 68

Mehmet Ismail Shehu was an Albanian communist politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Albania from 1954 to 1981. As an acknowledged military tactician, without whose leadership the communist partisans may well have failed in their battle to win Albania for the Marxist-Leninist cause, Shehu exhibited an ideological understanding and work ethic that singled him out for rapid promotion in the communist party. Mehmet Shehu shared power with Enver Hoxha from the end of the Second World War. According to official Albanian government sources, he committed suicide on December 17, 1981, after which the entire Shehu clan were arrested and imprisoned while Mehmet Shehu himself was denounced as "one of the most dangerous traitors and enemies of his country". Persistent rumors remain, however, that Shehu was actually murdered on orders from Hoxha.

Jean Lesage, was a Canadian lawyer and politician from Quebec. He served as the 19th Premier of Quebec from 22 June 1960 to 16 June 1966. Alongside Georges-Émile Lapalme, René Lévesque and others, he is often viewed as the father of the Quiet Revolution. Quebec City International Airport was officially named in his honour on 31 March 1994, and a provincial electoral district, Jean-Lesage, was named for him, as well.

Diane Helen Wood Middlebrook was an American biographer, poet, and teacher. She taught feminist studies for many years at Stanford University. She is best known for critically acclaimed biographies of poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, and jazz musician Billy Tipton. Middlebrook was preparing a biography of the Roman poet Ovid, to be published in 2008. Her death brought that project to a close.

Boris Dvornik was a Croatian actor.

Herbert George Gardner, better known as Herb Gardner, was an American commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright and screenwriter.

Juris Silovs was a Latvian athlete from Krāslava who competed for Soviet Union from 1970 til 1978, mainly in the 100 metres. He trained at the VSS Vārpa in Riga.