List of Famous people who died at 79

Thomas Joseph Meskill Jr. was a longtime United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He previously served as the 82nd Governor of Connecticut, as a United States Representative from Connecticut, and as the mayor of New Britain, Connecticut. He is noted as having served in all three branches of government and at the local, state and federal levels of government during his career of public service.

Paul Beeson, B.S.C. was a British cinematographer. He was initially at Ealing Studios before going on to work on films for various other companies. He worked on over three hundred feature films, including 74 where he was director of photography.

John William Brown was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He briefly served as the 58th Governor of Ohio from January 3, 1957 to January 14, 1957 and served as the 51st and 54th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio.

James Elisha Folsom Sr., commonly known as Jim Folsom or Big Jim Folsom, was an American politician who served as the 42nd governor of the U.S. state of Alabama, having served from 1947 to 1951, and again from 1955 to 1959.

Ernest John Primeau was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Manchester from 1960 to 1974.

William Aloysius O'Connor was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Springfield in Illinois from 1949 to 1975.

Spessard Lindsey Holland was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 28th Governor of Florida from 1941 to 1945, and as a United States Senator from Florida from 1946 to 1971. A Democrat, he was a member of the conservative coalition in Congress.

Dr. Pavel Aleksandrovich Solovyov was a Russian engineer born in Alekino in Kineshemsky District of Ivanovo Oblast. He specialised in the design of aircraft engines.

Dorothy Poynton-Hill was an American diver who competed at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics. She won the 10 m platform event in 1932 and 1936, while in the 3 m springboard she took a silver in 1928 and a bronze in 1936. In 1928, she became the youngest Olympian to win a medal and, in 1936, the first Olympic diver to win the 10 m platform twice.