List of Famous people who died at 72

Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Alberto Korda or simply Korda, was a Cuban photographer, remembered for his famous image Guerrillero Heroico of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.

Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg was the eldest son of Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, who was the last ruling Grand Duke of Oldenburg.

Pierre Lacroix was a Canadian ice hockey executive. He was the president and general manager of the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche from 1994 to 2006. After the Nordiques moved to Colorado in 1995, he built teams that won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1996 and 2001.

Jean-Claude Frécon was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Loire department, and is the current president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe after having served as Vice-President since 2002. In 2010, he was elected the President of the Chamber of Local Authorities. He was also elected head of the French Delegation in the Congress in 2004.

Musa Tajetdinovich Yerniyazov was a Soviet, then Uzbek state and political figure. He was Chairman of the Jokargi Kenges (Parliament) of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Member of the Senate and Deputy Chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Mishik Airazatovich Kazaryan was a Russian-Armenian physicist specialising in laser physics and optics, the winner of the State Prize of the USSR in the field of science and technology, foreign member of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, member of the AM Prokhorov Academy of Engineering Sciences. Kazaryan was a creator of the brightest repetitively pulsed laser in the visible region of the spectrum.

Anton Schindling was a German historian. He held chairs at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (1985-1987), the University of Osnabrück (1987-1995) and the University of Tübingen (1995–2015). Thematically he worked on the history of education, the age of Confessionalization and the Holy Roman Empire. He was one of the leading early modern researchers in Germany.

Andrzej Ryszard Niemczyk was a Polish volleyball player and coach.

Shikō Munakata was a woodblock printmaker active in Shōwa period Japan. He is associated with the sōsaku-hanga movement and the mingei movement. Munakata was awarded the "Prize of Excellence" at the Second International Print Exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland in 1952, and first prize at the São Paulo Bienal Exhibition in Brazil in 1955, followed by Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale in 1956, and the Order of Culture, the highest honor in the arts by the Japanese government in 1970.

Üzeyir Garih was a Turkish engineer, businessman, writer and investor.