List of Famous people who died at 72

Julian Sinclair Smith was an American electrical engineer and television executive. He was the founder of the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was a Russian politician and businessman. He was the first chairman of the Gazprom energy company and the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of Russia (1992–1998) based on consecutive years. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s, and a participant in the transition from a planned to a market economy. From 2001 to 2009, he was Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. After that he was designated as a presidential adviser.

Geoffrey James Nicholls was a British musician and keyboardist, and longtime member of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, until 2004. Nicholls also played in the NWOBHM band Quartz before joining Black Sabbath. In the 1960s/early 1970s, Geoff played lead guitar for the Birmingham bands The Boll Weevils, The Seed, Johnny Neal and the Starliners, and played keyboards for World of Oz.

John Davison Rockefeller III was an American philanthropist and the eldest son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was engaged in a wide range of philanthropic projects, many of which his family had launched, as well as supporting organizations related to East Asian affairs. Rockefeller was also a major supporter of the Population Council, and the committee that created the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Zeki Alasya was a Turkish actor and film director. Alasya was of Turkish Cypriot descent and was related to Kıbrıslı Mehmed Kamil Pasha.

Geethanjali was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films for several decades. She was famous for her roles in Illalu, Sitarama Kalyanam with NTR, Adurti Subba Rao's Dr. Chakravarthy, Murali Krishna, Abbayigaru Ammayigaru, Kaalam Marindi and Sambarala Rambabu. She was also a member of the Nandi Award committee.

Yogesh Chander Deveshwar was an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of ITC Limited. He was the longest-serving CEO of any Indian company.

Khaled Omar Taja was a Syrian actor born in Rukneddine district in the city of Damascus. The poet Mahmoud Darwish called him "Anthony Quinn of the Arabs", he was ranked among the fifty best actors in the world according to the American Time magazine. He worked in more than 62 different TV series. He passed away at the age of 73 in April 4, 2012.

Michael Hugh Scully was an English journalist, radio and television presenter. He was the host and longest-serving presenter of the BBC programme Antiques Roadshow from 1981 to 2000.

Ainsley Gotto was an Australian public servant and entrepreneur, who was the private secretary to John Gorton, the Prime Minister of Australia in the late 1960s.