List of Famous people who died at 78

Robert Karl Friedrich Gysae was a German U-boat commander in the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Gysae commanded U-98 and U-177, being credited with sinking twenty-five ships on eight patrols, for a total of 146,815 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.

Ambrose of Dorostol born Alexander Alexandrov Parashkevov, was a Bulgarian Orthodox clergyman, being the Bishop of Branitsa from 1998 to 2010 and Metropolitan of Dorostol from 2010 to his death in 2020. He was a member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Paul Steinitz OBE was an English post-war organist, best known as an interpreter of Johann Sebastian Bach's music. He founded the London Bach Society and Steinitz Bach Players, performing among other significant Bach projects, a complete cycle of Bach's cantatas, mainly in London venues, over a period of 29 years, the first public cycle of the extant church and secular works in the UK.

William "Red" Holzman was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 1982. Holzman helped lead the Knicks to two NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1996, Holzman was named one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History.

Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly was an Indian poet and novelist in the Bengali language based in the city of Calcutta. He is a former Sheriff of Calcutta. Gangopadhyay obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. In 1953 he and a few of his friends started a Bengali poetry magazine, Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different publications.

Wong Peng Soon, was an ethnic Chinese Malayan/Singaporean badminton player who reigned as a top player in Malaya from the 1930s to the 1950s. Noted for his smooth but powerful strokes and graceful footwork, he won the singles title seven times in Singapore and eight times in Malaya during this period, as well as being the top player in the All England, the Danish Open, the Indian Open, and the Philippines Open to name a few. Wong's great rival during his career was his contemporary Ong Poh Lim.