List of Famous people who died at 71

Freddie Steele was a boxer and film actor born Frederick Earle Burgett in Seattle, Washington. He was recognized as the National Boxing Association (NBA) Middleweight Champion of the World between 1936 and 1938. Steele was nicknamed "The Tacoma Assassin" and was trained by Jack Connor, Johnny Babnick, and Ray Arcel, while in New York. His managers included George McAllister, Dave Miller, Eddie Miller, and Pete Reilly. He appeared as an actor in a number of Hollywood films in the 1940s, including Preston Sturges's Hail the Conquering Hero.

Edgard De Caluwé was a Belgian cyclist.

Aleksey Shakhurin was a Soviet statesman, and Minister of Aviation Industry during World War II.

Kim (Keimpe) Henry Veltman was a Dutch/Canadian historian of science and art, director of the Virtual Maastricht McLuhan Institute (VMMI), consultant and author, known for his contributions in the fields of "linear perspective and the visual dimensions of science and art," new media, culture and society.

Ezio Cecchi was a former Italian professional cyclist. Cecchi twice finished second overall in the Giro d'Italia. He finished second in 1938 to Giovanni Valetti. In 1948 Cecchi finished eleven seconds behind the winner Fiorenzo Magni; this margin of victory is still the slimmest margin of victory in the history of the Giro d'Italia.

Robert Max Friedrich Sauer was a German mathematician. He was rector of the Technical University of Munich from 1954 to 1956 and president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 1964 to 1970.