List of Famous people who died at 72

Abdurehim Tileshüp Ötkür was a popular Uyghur author and poet who is considered the "father of modern Uyghur poetry".

Hans Diller was a German classical scholar and historian of ancient Greek medicine.

Harry Waxman, B.S.C. was an English cinematographer.

Donald John Chuy was a professional American football player who played guard for seven seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Alastair Reid was a British television director whose credits include the TV series Selling Hitler (1991) based on the Hitler diaries, and Traffik and Tales of the City and Shout at the Devil.

Chris Bryant was an English screenwriter and occasional actor.

Charles Evans Whittaker was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1962. After working in private practice in Kansas City, Missouri, he was nominated for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Whittaker to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. In 1957, he won confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States, thus becoming the first individual to serve as a judge on a federal district court, a federal court of appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. During his brief tenure on the Warren Court, Whittaker emerged as a swing vote. In 1962, he suffered a nervous breakdown and resigned from the Court. After leaving the Supreme Court, he served as chief counsel to General Motors and frequently criticized the Civil Rights Movement and the Warren Court.