List of Famous people who died at 72

Hasri Ainun Habibie was an Indonesian physician and wife of former President B. J. Habibie. She served as First Lady of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999.

Antônio Carlos Moreira Pires, better known as Moraes Moreira [mo.ˈɾajs mu.ˈɾej.ɾa], was a Brazilian musician and songwriter. During the 1970s he played guitar and sang in the band Novos Baianos, after which he embarked on a solo career recording 29 albums. Moreira was involved in recording 40 full-length albums with Novos Baianos and Trio Elétrico Dodô e Osmar, and two more albums with guitarist Pepeu Gomes. Moreira was one of the most versatile composers of Brazil, mixing the genres of rock, samba, choro, frevo, baião, and classical.

John Laird Abercrombie was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.

Vasili Aleksandrovich Arkhipov was a Soviet Navy officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear strike during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.

Sharon Kristin Nelson was an American primitive painter, actress, and author, once married to the actor and musician Ricky Nelson.

Wilfred Graham Burchett was an Australian journalist known for being the first western journalist to report from Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and for his reporting from "the other side" during the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Johan Allan Edwall was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman's films, such as Fanny and Alexander (1982). He found his largest audience in the Scandinavian countries for playing lovable characters in several of the film and TV adaptations of the children's stories by Astrid Lindgren. He attended Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre School from 1949–1952. During his long career he appeared in over 400 works. At the 10th Guldbagge Awards in 1974, he won the award for Best Actor for his role in Emil and the Piglet.

Vincent Frank Vella was an American actor, talk show host and comedian. He acted in more than forty films often in the role of a gangster. He was best known for the role of Artie Piscano in Martin Scorsese's Casino and Jimmy Petrille in the HBO show The Sopranos.

Adenan bin Satem was the fifth Chief Minister of Sarawak, in office from 2014 to 2017. During his tenure as Chief Minister, Adenan held the position as the President of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), which is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition. He was of Malay descent. A popular figure known affectionately as "Tok Nan", he died in office on 11 January 2017.

George Bernard Worrell, Jr. was an American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. Worrell was described by Jon Pareles of The New York Times as "the kind of sideman who is as influential as some bandleaders."