List of Famous people who died at 79

Carmen Susana Duijm Zubillaga was a Venezuelan actress, television host, beauty queen, and model who was crowned Miss Venezuela 1955 and competed at Miss Universe 1955, placing in the top 15. She then went to compete at Miss World 1955 and won, becoming the first Venezuelan and Latin American woman to win the Miss World crown.

William Gordon Welchman was a British-American mathematician. During World War II, he worked at Britain's secret codebreaking centre, "Station X" at Bletchley Park, where he was one of the most important contributors. After the war he moved to the US, and worked on the design of military communications systems.

Marvin H. Davis was an American industrialist. He made his fortunes as the chair of Davis Petroleum and at one time owned 20th Century Fox, the Pebble Beach Corporation, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Aspen Skiing Company.

Heinrich Gretler (1897–1977) was a Swiss film and television actor, who also starred on stage at the Bernhard-Theater in Zurich.

Harry Wu was a Chinese-American human rights activist. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, and he became a resident and citizen of the United States. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation.

María Carmen de Icaza y de León, 8th Baroness of Claret was a Spanish journalist and novelist from 1935–60. She enjoyed success with her 1936 novel, Cristina Guzmán, which was subsequently adapted for the stage, television and cinema. By 1945, she was a best-selling writer in Spain. Her father was Mexican writer and diplomat Francisco A. de Icaza.

Thomas Edward Fitzpatrick nicknamed Tommy Fitz, was an American pilot known for two intoxicated flights where he flew from New Jersey and landed on the streets of New York City.

Gerhard Weber was a German fashion designer and entrepreneur, who founded Gerry Weber, a fashion manufacturer and retailer in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia. He signed tennis player Steffi Graf for public relations before her international success. He was the founder of the Halle Open, a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour.

Philip Ramone was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business partner Jack Arnold at 112 West 48th Street, New York, upstairs from the famous musicians' watering hole, Jim & Andy's, and several doors east of Manny's Music. The success of the original A & R Recording allowed it to expand into several studios and a record production company. He was described by Billboard as "legendary", and the BBC as a "CD pioneer".

Maxwell James Merritt was a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who was renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B. As leader of Max Merritt & The Meteors his best known hits are "Slippin' Away", which reached No. 2 on the 1976 Australian singles charts, and "Hey, Western Union Man" which reached No. 13. Merritt rose to prominence in New Zealand from 1958 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, in December 1964. Merritt was acknowledged as one of the best local performers of the 1960s and 1970s and his influence did much to popularise soul music / R&B and rock in New Zealand and Australia.