List of Famous people who died at 78

Abu Bakr Salem Balfaqih was a Yemeni singer born on March 17, 1939 in Tarim,Hadhramout. He is also nicknamed Abu Aseel, The Father of Khaleeji Music ., and The one with the golden larynx. Abu Bakr is famously known in the Arab world by his unique riveting voice. He is one of the few musicians in the Arab world who succeeded at being a singer, poet, and composer at the same time and thus, he is considered a complete artist. Before drawing his path in the music world, Abu Bakr worked as a teacher for three years, drawing on his training at a teachers’ institute in Yemen. Some of Abu Bakr's patriotic odes to Yemen celebrated the significant historical events such as the abolition of the monarchy in the north in 1962, the independence of the south in 1967, and the unification of both the South and North Yemen in 1990. In addition to the Yemeni nationality, Abu Bakr also held the Saudi nationality after he moved to Saudi Arabia in the 70's. During his musical career, he worked with other pioneers in the Khaleeji music field including Talal Maddah, Tariq Abdul-Hakim and Shadi Gulf. His last release was a duet with young Yemeni singer and winner of the “Khaleeji Star” Fouad Abdulwahed. Abu Bakr Salem died on December 10, 2017.

Vijay Patil better known as Raamlaxman, was an Indian composer, pianist, musician and accordionist. Raamlaxman is most famous for his work with Rajshri Productions of Hindi films. He composed music for their hit films like Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999). His first film was Agent Vinod (1977) Raamlaxman has worked in almost 75 films in Hindi, Marathi and Bhojpuri.

Major-General Chaim Herzog was an Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and raised predominantly in Dublin, the son of Ireland's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and served in the Haganah Jewish paramilitary group during the 1936–39 Arab revolt. As an officer in the British Army during World War II, he was called "Vivian" the direct English translation of "Chaim" - because his first commanding officer would not say "Chaim." He returned to Palestine after the war and, following the end of the British Mandate and Israel's Declaration of Independence in 1948, operated in the battles for Latrun during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. He retired from the Israel Defence Forces in 1962 with the rank of major-general.

Peter Mayle was a British author noted for his memoirs of life in Provence, France.

Tetsuya Theodore Fujita was a Japanese-American meteorologist whose research primarily focused on severe weather. His research at the University of Chicago on severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and typhoons revolutionized the knowledge of each. Although he is best known for creating the Fujita scale of tornado intensity and damage, he also discovered downbursts and microbursts, and was an instrumental figure in advancing modern understanding of many severe weather phenomena and how they affect people and communities, especially through his work exploring the relationship between wind speed and damage.

James Sherman Wynn, nicknamed "The Toy Cannon", was an American professional baseball player who had a 15-year career with the Houston Colt .45s / Astros and four other teams, primarily as a center fielder. Wynn was nicknamed "The Toy Cannon" because his bat had a lot of "pop" for his small size.

Paul Richard Averitt was an American soldier serving as a member of the US Army 92nd Signal Corps Battalion. He was one the first photographers taking pictures at Dachau concentration camp during its liberation on April 29, 1945.

Lucien Szpiro was a French mathematician known for his work in number theory, arithmetic geometry, and commutative algebra. He formulated Szpiro's conjecture and was a Distinguished Professor at the CUNY Graduate Center and an emeritus Director of Research at the CNRS.

Buddy Gene Emmons was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Affectionately known by the nickname "Big E", Emmons' primary genre was American country music, but he also performed jazz and Western swing. He recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Gram Parsons, The Everly Brothers, The Carpenters, Roger Miller, Ernest Tubb, John Hartford, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price, Judy Collins, George Strait, John Sebastian, and Ray Charles and was a widely sought session musician in Nashville and Los Angeles.

Grande Otelo was the stage name of Brazilian actor, comedian, singer, and composer Sebastião Bernardes de Souza Prata. Otelo was born in Uberlândia, and was orphaned as a child. He kept running away from the families that adopted him; only when he took up art did his life become settled.