List of Famous people who died at 79

William S. James, called Bill or Billy James by contemporaries, was a politician from the U.S. state of Maryland. James was first elected to office as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing Harford County in 1946, and after serving two terms was elected to the Maryland Senate in 1954. He would serve in the Senate for a further two decades, from 1963 onwards as President of the Maryland Senate. Following his retirement from the state Senate in 1974, James was appointed State Treasurer, a position he would hold from 1975 through 1987. His daughter, Mary-Dulany James, was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 34A in Cecil and Harford Counties from 1999 until 2015.

John Willard Thorp was an American aeronautical engineer who made significant contributions to aircraft design throughout his life.

Priscilla Fairfield Bok was an American astronomer and the wife of Dutch-born astronomer Bart Bok, Director of Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia and later of Steward Observatory in Arizona, US. Their harmonious marriage accompanied the four decades of their close scientific collaboration, in which "it is difficult and pointless to separate his achievements from hers". They co-authored a number of academic papers on star clusters, stellar magnitudes, and the structure of the Milky Way galaxy. The Boks displayed great mutual enthusiasm for explaining astronomy to the public: described as "salesmen of the Milky Way" by The Boston Globe, their general interest book The Milky Way went through five editions and was said to be "one of the most successful astronomical texts ever written".

Kirsten Thorndahl was a Danish badminton player. She became the first player to become All England champion in all three categories: women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. She reached the All England final 17 times and represented Denmark at the Uber Cup.

T. Wynn Rogers (1919–1998) was an American badminton player who won numerous U.S. national titles from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s.

Stuart Buchanan was an American voice actor, announcer, and educator.

Kozo Uno was a Japanese economist and is considered one of the most important theorists on the field of Marx's theory of value. His main work Principles of Political Economy was published in 1964. Among his scholars are Thomas T. Sekine and Makoto Itoh.