List of Famous people who died at 81

Joseph Vilsmaier was a German film director who began his career as a technician and cameraman. He is internationally known for films such as Comedian Harmonists.

Ray Sawyer was an American singer and vocalist with the 1970s rock band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Though primarily a backing vocalist and occasional percussionist on congas or maracas, he sang lead on their hit song "The Cover of Rolling Stone" and was a recognizable presence in the band owing to the eyepatch and cowboy hat he wore. He was also the uncle of the vocalist of Wild Fire, Zack Sawyer.

Vasily Filippovich Margelov was a Red Army General who was the commander of the Soviet Airborne Troops (VDV) from 1954 to 1959 and from 1961–1979. Margelov modernized the VDV and was a Hero of the Soviet Union.

George Glenn Jones was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", as well as his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." Waylon Jennings expressed a similar opinion in his song "It's Alright": "If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones." The shape of his nose and facial features earned Jones the nickname "The Possum". George Jones has been called "The Rolls Royce Of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.

Kazuhiko Katō , known by the pen name Monkey Punch , was a Japanese manga artist, best known for his series Lupin III. In April 2005, he became the professor of Manga and Animation at Otemae University, in their Faculty of Media and Arts, and was a visiting professor at Tokyo University of Technology in May 2010. He was born in Hamanaka, Hokkaido, and resided in Sakura, Chiba until his death in 2019. He received the Inkpot Award in 1981 and a special Tokyo Anime Award in 2015.

Karl Lehmann was a German Cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016, being elevated to Cardinal in 2001. He also served as Chairman of the Conference of the German Bishops from 1987 to 2008, being considered one of the most influential prelates in Germany in these years and a leading proponent of liberal stances within the Church. Before he became a bishop, he worked as professor of theology at the University of Mainz and the University of Freiburg.

Mihai Volontir was a Soviet and Moldovan actor. People's Artist of the USSR (1984).

Felipe de Alba was a Mexican attorney and character actor from the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in films such as Robinson Crusoe and Real Women Have Curves (2002).

William Thad Cochran was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018. A Republican, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1978.

Heinrich "Heinz" Kwiatkowski was a German football goalkeeper. He was born in Gelsenkirchen.