List of Famous people who died at 79

Ion Horia Leonida Caramitru, OBE was a Romanian stage and film actor, stage director, and political figure. He was Minister of Culture between 1996 and 2000, in the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) cabinets of Victor Ciorbea, Gavril Dejeu, Radu Vasile, Alexandru Athanasiu, and Mugur Isărescu. He was married to actress Micaela Caracaș and had three sons: Ștefan, Andrei, and Matei Caramitru.

Sérgio Buarque de Holanda was a Brazilian historian, writer, journalist and sociologist. His greatest achievement was Raízes do Brasil, a landmark of Brazilian sociology, in which he developed the groundbreaking concept of the "cordial man" as the fundamental Brazilian identity. His son, Chico Buarque de Holanda is an accomplished singer-songwriter and novelist and his daughter Miúcha was also a famous singer. Buarque de Holanda was also a member of the Academia Paulista de Letras.

Borislav Drljača, better known as Boro Drljača, was a Serbian folk singer from Bosanska Krajina. Recognized as one of the most eminent Yugoslavian folk singers, he received the Life Achievement Award for his work. Drljača recorded over four hundred songs including "Stari vuk", "Ne namiguj na me tuđa ženo", and "Plači, mala, plači". He also performed for Serbian diaspora across Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.

Georg Lhotzky was an Austrian actor and film director. He directed 15 films between 1960 and 1991.

Terence David Hands was an English theatre director. He founded the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for thirteen years during one of the company's most successful periods; he spent 25 years in all with the RSC. He also saved Clwyd Theatr Cymru from closure and turned it into the most successful theatre in Wales in his seventeen years as Artistic Director. He received several Olivier, Tony and Molière awards and nominations for directing and lighting.

Olivier Debré (1920–1999) was a French abstract painter.

Mohammed Larbi Messari was a Moroccan politician, diplomat, historian and member of the Istiqlal Party. He was appointed Minister of Communications from 1998 until 2000. A historian and diplomat by profession, Larbi was considered an expert on Moroccan–Spanish relations. He also served as Morocco's Ambassador to Brazil from 1985 until 1991.

Alan Douglas Edward Cameron, was a British classicist and academic. He was Charles Anthon Professor Emeritus of the Latin Language and Literature at Columbia University, New York. He was one of the leading scholars of the literature and history of the later Roman world and at the same time a wide-ranging classical philologist whose work encompassed above all the Greek and Latin poetic tradition from Hellenistic to Byzantine times but also aspects of late antique art.

Philippe Leroy was a member of the Senate of France from 2001 until 2017, representing the Moselle department. He was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.

Julio Terrazas Sandoval was a Cardinal Priest and Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the Roman Catholic Church.