List of Famous people who died at 72

Henri-Irénée Marrou was a French historian. A Christian humanist in outlook, his work was primarily in the spheres of Late Antiquity and the history of education. He is best known for his work History of Education in Antiquity. He also edited, for Sources Chrétiennes, the early Christian work Letter to Diognetus, the only manuscript of which perished in a fire at the University of Strasbourg during the Franco-Prussian War. Marrou edited the collection Patristica Sorbonensia, published by Le Seuil. His work has been criticised by the philosopher Ilsetraut Hadot. Marrou also wrote under the pseudonym of Henri Davenson. His Carnets posthumes were published in 2006 under the editorial supervision of his daughter Françoise Marrou-Flamant.

Christopher Jeremy Sandford was an English television screenwriter who came to prominence in 1966 with Cathy Come Home, his controversial entry in BBC1's The Wednesday Play anthology strand, which was directed by Ken Loach. Later, in 1971, he wrote another successful one-off, Edna, the Inebriate Woman, for The Wednesday Play's successor series Play for Today.

Tamás Wichmann was a Hungarian sprint canoeist who competed from 1966 to 1983. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won three medals. This included two silver and one bronze.

Georgy Ivanovich Khetagurov was an Ossetian army general of the Soviet Army and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Bruce Charles Bickford was an American artist, animator, and filmmaker, who worked primarily in line and clay animation. From 1974 to 1980, he collaborated with Frank Zappa in Los Angeles. Bickford's animation was featured extensively in the Frank Zappa videos Baby Snakes and The Dub Room Special. Zappa also released a video titled The Amazing Mr. Bickford, which was entirely composed of Bickford animations set to a soundtrack of Zappa's orchestral music.