List of Famous people who died at 81

Madhu Dandavate was an Indian physicist and socialist politician, who served as Minister of Railways in the Morarji Desai ministry, and as Minister of Finance in the V P Singh ministry.

William Auld was a British (Scottish) poet, author, translator and magazine editor who wrote chiefly in Esperanto.

Eduard Zuckmayer was a German music educator, composer, conductor and pianist. He was the older brother of the famous German writer Carl Zuckmayer (1896–1977).

René Cardona was a director, actor, producer, screenwriter, and film editor in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.

Gordon Bunshaft,, was an American architect, a leading proponent of modern design in the mid-twentieth century. A partner in the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Bunshaft joined in 1937 and remained for more than 40 years. The long list of his notable buildings includes Lever House in New York, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 140 Broadway and Manufacturers Hanover Trust Branch Bank in New York; the last was the first post-war "transparent" bank on the East Coast.

Lars Valter Hörmander was a Swedish mathematician who has been called "the foremost contributor to the modern theory of linear partial differential equations". He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1962, the Wolf Prize in 1988, and the Leroy P. Steele Prize in 2006. His Analysis of Linear Partial Differential Operators I–IV is considered a standard work on the subject of linear partial differential operators.

Patrick Partridge, BEM was an English football referee, and former President of the Association of Football League Referees and Linesmen. His occupation outside football was as a farmer.

Alfred Schmidt was a German philosopher.