List of Famous people who died at 79

Gareth Gwenlan was a Welsh television producer and director, best known for his work on shows such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, To the Manor Born, Only Fools and Horses, and High Hopes.

Alberto Sáenz de Zumarán Ortiz de Taranco, known as Alberto Zumarán was a Uruguayan lawyer and politician, belonging to the National Party.

Sir Wilmot Hudson Fysh, KBE, DFC was an Australian aviator and businessman. A founder of the Australian airline company Qantas, Fysh was born in Launceston, Tasmania. Serving in the Battle of Gallipoli and Palestine Campaign as a lieutenant of the Australian Light Horse Brigade, Fysh later became an observer and gunner to Paul McGinness in the AFC. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross during the aftermath of the war for his services to aerial warfare.

Bruno Nicolè was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward.

Keorapetse William Kgositsile, also known by his pen name Bra Willie, was a South African Tswana poet, journalist and political activist. An influential member of the African National Congress in the 1960s and 1970s, he was inaugurated as South Africa's National Poet Laureate in 2006. Kgositsile lived in exile in the United States from 1962 until 1975, the peak of his literary career. He made an extensive study of African-American literature and culture, becoming particularly interested in jazz. During the 1970s he was a central figure among African-American poets, encouraging interest in Africa as well as the practice of poetry as a performance art; he was well known for his readings in New York City jazz clubs. Kgositsile was one of the first to bridge the gap between African poetry and black poetry in the United States.

Mahmud Ahmad Taymur was a fiction writer.

Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb Giad Al-Haq was an Egyptian colonel general and the Commander in Chief of The Armed Forces.

João Cabral de Melo Neto, also known as Joãozinho Cabral was a Brazilian poet and diplomat, and one of the most influential writers in late Brazilian modernism. He was awarded the 1990 Camões Prize and the 1992 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the only Brazilian poet to receive such award to date. He was considered until his death a perennial competitor for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Per Axel Ahlmark was a Swedish politician and writer. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 1976 to 1978. He also served as a member of the Swedish parliament from 1967 to 1978.

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from Japan to win two Palme d'Or awards.