List of Famous people who died at 72

Boyd Franklin Morgan was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins. He played college football at the University of Southern California and was drafted in the 18th round of the 1939 NFL Draft.

Reinaldo Ernst E. (Heribert) Pünder was the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Coroatá, Brazil.

Pasquale A. "Pat" Buba was an American film editor, noted for his longtime collaboration with George A. Romero.

Paul Teitgen was a résistant and political prisoner during the Second World War. Later, he was the Police Prefect of Algiers during the Algerian War, where he was notable for his opposition to the widespread torture committed by the French Army.

James Chipman Fletcher served as the 4th and 7th Administrator of NASA, first from April 27, 1971 to May 1, 1977, under President Richard M. Nixon, and again from May 12, 1986 to April 8, 1989, under President Ronald Reagan. As such, he was responsible for the early planning of the Space Shuttle program, and later for its recovery and return to flight after the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. Prior to this, he was president of the University of Utah from 1964 to 1971.

Franco Pacini was an Italian astrophysicist and professor at the University of Florence. He carried out research, mostly in High Energy Astrophysics, in Italy, France, United States and at the European Southern Observatory.

Gunnar Thoroddsen was the Prime Minister of Iceland from 1980 to 1983.