List of Famous people who died at 78

Nguyễn Chấn, known as Trần Văn Trà was a Vietnamese general. He was a commander in the Vietcong; a member of the Central Committee of the Lao Dong Party from 1960 to 1982; a lieutenant general in the army of the North Vietnam; chairman of Military Affairs Committee of the Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) (1964–1976).

Iannis Xenakis was a Greek-French composer, music theorist, architect, performance director and engineer. After 1947, he fled Greece, becoming a naturalized citizen of France. He is considered an important post-World War II composer whose works helped revolutionize 20th-century classical music. Xenakis pioneered the use of mathematical models in music such as applications of set theory, stochastic processes and game theory and was also an important influence on the development of electronic and computer music. He integrated music with architecture, designing music for pre-existing spaces, and designing spaces to be integrated with specific music compositions and performances.

André Schwarz-Bart was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins. He was awarded the 1967 Jerusalem Prize.

Mitiku Belachew was an Ethiopian-born Belgian surgeon. He was known for inventing the adjustable gastric band and aiding in the fight against obesity.

Jacques Lafleur was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France.

August Wilhelm Miete was an SS functionary of Nazi Germany. He worked at the Grafeneck and Hadamar Euthanasia Centres, and then at Treblinka extermination camp. Miete was arrested in 1960 and tried in West Germany for participating in the mass murder of at least 300,000 people; in 1965, he was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty, life imprisonment.

Muhammed bin Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was a member of the House of Saud. He was the only son of King Saud to hold high office after his father's deposition in 1964 until his brother Mishaal bin Saud became the governor of Najran Province in 1997.

Hiroshi Shō was the head of the Shō family, the former Ryūkyūan royal family. He was the great-grandson of Shō Tai, the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and was the last member of the family to hold the title of Marquess . Like most members of the kazoku system of peerage, and all heads of the Shō family since the abolition of the Ryukyu Kingdom, he lived in Tokyo for his whole life.

Carlo M. Cipolla was an Italian economic historian.

Norman John Warren was an English film director best known for such 1970s horror films as Satan's Slave (1976), Prey (1977) and Terror (1978). Warren is also known for sex comedies such as Outer Touch.