List of Famous people who died at 72

Frank Joseph Pellegrino was an American actor and restaurateur.

Maria Petrovna Maksakova was a Soviet opera singer, mezzo-soprano, a leading soloist in the Bolshoi Theater (1923–1953), who enjoyed great success in the 1920s and 1930s, in the times often referred to as the golden age of Soviet opera. Maria Maksakova, the three times laureate of the Stalin's Prize, was designated as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. The actress Lyudmila Maksakova is her daughter; singer and TV presenter Maria Maksakova Jr. her granddaughter.

Charles Gordon Blazer was an American soccer administrator, who held a number of high level positions before becoming a government informant on widespread corruption within organized soccer. He was a FIFA Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2013, the CONCACAF General Secretary from 1990 until 2011, and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

John James Williams MBE, known universally as J. J. Williams, was a Welsh rugby union player who gained thirty caps for Wales as a winger. In his early career, Williams was a talented sprinter, later becoming a member of the Wales rugby team that won the Five Nations Championship in 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1979, including Grand Slam wins in 1976 and 1978.

Hiroko Nakamura was a Japanese pianist.

Geoffrey Ernest Emerick was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Abbey Road (1969). Beatles producer George Martin credited him with bringing "a new kind of mind to the recordings, always suggesting sonic ideas, different kinds of reverb, what we could do with the voices".

Roy Den Hollander was an American lawyer who gained notoriety for unsuccessful sex discrimination suits on behalf of men. He was, allegedly, also a private investigator in Russia.

George Anthony David Haygarth was an English television, film and theatre actor.

Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta was a Nigerian-born novelist, based in the UK from 1962, who also wrote plays and an autobiography, as well as works for children. She was the author of more than 20 books, including Second Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). Most of her early novels were published by the London-based company Allison and Busby, where her editor was Margaret Busby.

William Henry Robinson was a New Zealand scientist and seismic engineer who invented the lead rubber bearing seismic isolation device. He grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand. He earned a master's degree at the Ardmore School of Engineering, then a PhD in physical metallurgy at the University of Illinois. Robinson was director of the DSIR's Physics and Engineering Laboratory between 1985 and 1991. He continued to invent and develop seismic isolation devices, travel and lecture until his early 70s.