List of Famous people who died at 72

Siegfried Johannes Gottwald was a German mathematician, logician and historian of science.

Juan Martín Mujica Ferreira was a Uruguayan football player and manager who represented his country at the 1970 FIFA World Cup.

Antonio Rodríguez de las Heras Pérez was a Spanish historian, a professor at the Charles III University of Madrid, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Communication and Documentation and Director of the Institute of Culture and Technology of the Carlos III University. He was also a member of the Advisory Council of TeamLabs since its foundation in 2013.

Alfonso López Trujillo was a Colombian Cardinal Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and president of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

Jonathan Jakob Jørgen Otto Motzfeldt was a Greenlandic priest and politician. He is considered one of the leading figures in the establishment of Greenland Home Rule. Jonathan Motzfeldt was the first and third Prime Minister of Greenland. He was Greenland's prime minister from 1979 until 1991 and again from 1997 until 2002. He is Greenland's longest serving prime minister and has won the most elections of any prime minister of Greenland.

Carlos Andrés Escudé Carvajal was an Argentine political scientist and author, who during the 1990s served as special advisor to foreign minister Guido di Tella. As such, he advised on Argentine foreign policy strategy vis-à-vis the Western powers particularly in the wake of the Falklands War.

Carlos Nine was an Argentinian cartoonist, painter, and sculptor.

Klaus Hagerup was a Norwegian author, translator, screenwriter, actor and director. He was also known for his role of Tom in the film The Chieftain (1984).

Helen Vita was a Swiss chanson singer, actress, and comedian. In 1966 Vita recorded Freche Chansons aus dem alten Frankreich, traditional French chansons translated into German. The explicit content of the songs was under scrutiny by courts in Germany before the Protests of 1968. She was married to the composer Walter Baumgartner.

Russell Charles Means was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, writer and musician, who became a prominent member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) after joining the organization in 1968 and helped organize notable events that attracted national and international media coverage.