List of Famous people who died at 79

Walter Ray Perkins was an American football coach and player. He played as a wide receiver for the University of Alabama and Baltimore Colts. He later worked as a football coach for 28 years, including stints as the head coach for the New York Giants, the University of Alabama, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Arkansas State University.

Tayeb Salih was one of Sudan's greatest authors of the twentieth century.

Saleh Abdullah Kamel was a Saudi billionaire businessman. He had a net worth estimated at US$2.3 billion, as of March 2017. He was the chairman and founder of the Dallah al Baraka Group (DBHC), one of the Middle East's largest conglomerates. He was also the chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.

John Clive was an English actor and author, known internationally for his world-wide best selling historical and social fiction, such as KG200 and Barossa.

Sogen Kato was a Japanese man thought to have been Tokyo's oldest man until July 2010, when his mummified corpse was found in his bedroom. It was concluded he had likely died in November 1978, aged 79, and his family had never announced his death. Relatives had rebuffed attempts by ward officials to see Kato in preparations for Respect for the Aged Day later that year, citing many reasons from him being a "human vegetable" to becoming a Sokushinbutsu. The cause of death was not determined due to the state of Kato's body.

Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was one of the first actresses to gain fame in the new medium of "talking pictures", and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for her work in Holiday.

Geoffrey Bond Lewis was an American character actor. He appeared in more than 200 films and television shows, and was principally known for his film roles alongside Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford. He typically portrayed villains or quirky characters. He played a bodyguard in the Jean-Claude van Damme film Double Impact.

Roy Edward Disney KCSG was a longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his father, Roy O. Disney, and his uncle, Walt Disney. At the time of his death, he held more than 16 million shares, and served as a consultant for the company, as director emeritus for the board of directors. During his tenure, he organized the ousting of two top Disney executives: Ron Miller in 1984 and Michael Eisner in 2005.

Eugen Karl Albrecht Gerstenmaier was a German Evangelical theologian, resistance fighter in the Third Reich, and a CDU politician. From 1954 to 1969, he was the 3rd President of the Bundestag.

Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani was an Afghan leader of the Haqqani network, an insurgent group fighting in guerilla warfare against US-led NATO forces, and the present government of Afghanistan they support. He distinguished himself as an internationally sponsored insurgent fighter in the 1980s during the Soviet–Afghan War, including Operation Magistral. He earned U.S. praise and was called "goodness personified" by the U.S. officials. US officials have admitted that during the Soviet-Afghan war he was a prized asset of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan called Jalaluddin Haqqani a "freedom fighter" during the Soviet-Afghan war. By 2004, he was directing pro-Taliban militants to launch a holy war in Afghanistan. In 2016, Lieutenant General John W. Nicholson Jr. claimed that the U.S. and NATO were not targeting Haqqani's network in Afghanistan.