List of Famous people who died at 72

Count Ladislas de Hoyos born into the Austro-Hungarian Counts de Hoyos family was a French TV journalist and politician. He was news broadcaster for TF1's and is known to have been the first journalist to interview in 1972 the former Gestapo member Klaus Barbie who lived in Bolivia. Barbie lived under the alias of Klaus Altmann and De Hoyos managed with Beate Klarsfeld to discover where the war criminal was hidden. De Hoyos covered in 1987 the trial of Barbie in Lyon and wrote a book about him.

Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, was the only son of King Zog I and Queen Geraldine of Albania. He was called Crown Prince Skander at birth. Leka was the pretender to the Albanian throne and was referred to as King Leka I.

Ayşegül Atik was a Turkish actress. Her active years were between 1978 and 2010.

João Lobo Antunes was a Portuguese neurosurgeon.

Achmad Hasyim Muzadi was an Indonesian Islamic scholar, cleric, and the fourth Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, from 1999 to 2010. He was the founder and director of the Al-Hikam Islamic boarding school. He was the running mate of Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia's 2004 presidential election, but the ticket lost the election in a runoff. He was a member of Indonesia's Presidential Advisory Board from 2015 until his death. He was a proponent of moderate Islam, which he defined as being neither radical nor liberal, criticizing both Islamic fundamentalism and liberal Islam.

Robert Siodmak was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of stylish, unpretentious Hollywood films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as The Killers (1946).

Heidemarie Hatheyer was an Austrian film actress. She appeared in 43 films between 1938 and 1988.

José Luis Capón González was a Spanish footballer from Madrid.

Jürg Laederach was a Swiss writer.

Ulf Gottfrid Stark was a Swedish author and screenwriter.