List of Famous people who died at 72

Barthélémy Djabla was the Ivorian Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gagnoa, based in Gagnoa, Côte d'Ivoire.

Luo Ruiqing, formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. He created the People's Republic of China's security and police apparatus after the Communist victory in the civil war in his capacity as the first Minister of Public Security from 1949 to 1959, and then served as Chief of Joint Staff from 1959 to 1965, achieving military victory in the Sino-Indian War.

Ali Tounsi was the Chief of Algeria's national police force between 1994 and 2010. He was shot dead in his office in Algiers by a senior police official, with whom he was arguing at the time. The official, said to be the chief of national police schools, was described as having acted during "an attack of madness". One source stated that other nearby officers returned fire; others indicated that it was Tounsi himself who wounded his attacker. The official statement released by the Interior Ministry said that the gunman had shot himself and was taken to a hospital. Two other people were said to have been injured in the attack. An inquiry into the killing has been opened.