List of Famous people who died at 81

Henry Thomas Sampson Jr. was an American engineer, inventor and film historian who created the gamma-electric cell in 1972 — a device with the main goal of generating auxiliary power from the shielding of a nuclear reactor.

Melvyn Charles was a Welsh international footballer. Charles played as both a centre-half and centre-forward, with his preferred position being at right-half.

Ferdinand Schörner was a German general and later field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded several army groups and was the last Commander-in-chief of the German Army.

Michael Holcombe Wilson was a Canadian businessman, politician and diplomat. He was the Chairman of Barclays Capital Canada Inc. from May 2010 until his death in February of 2019. He was a Bay Street investment executive when he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament in the 1979 general election. He served in various portfolios in the governments of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney between 1979 and 1993. He was the Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2006 until 2009, when he was succeeded by Gary Doer.

Edida Nageswara Rao was an Indian film producer in Telugu cinema. He owned the film production house Poornodaya Movie Creations in Tollywood. He produced Sankarabharanam, Swayam Krushi, Siri Siri Muvva and Swati Mutyam, which were showcased at the Moscow Film Festival.

Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union throughout the 1980s, he was termed the "godfather of glasnost", and was the intellectual force behind Mikhail Gorbachev's reform programme of glasnost and perestroika.

Shin Kanemaru was a Japanese politician who was a significant figure in the political arena of Japan from the 1970s to the early 1990s. He was also Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1977 to 1978.

Alberto Nelson Sanchez, known professionally as Al Hurricane, was an American singer-songwriter, dubbed "The Godfather" of New Mexico music. He released more than thirty albums, and is best known for his contributions to New Mexico's unique style of Spanish music.

Bhupathiraju Vissam Raju (1920-2002) is an Indian industrialist, a former chairman of Raasi Cements and the Cement Corporation of India and one of the pioneers of Indian cement industry. He was the director of Sagi Ramakrishnam Raju Constructions and Prasad and Company Project Works Limited. He was also interested in ceramics and refractory industries and is the founder of the Padmasri Dr. B.V Raju Institute of Technology. The Government of India awarded him the fourth-highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1977 and followed it with the third-highest honour of Padma Bhushan in 2001.

Nikolai Pavlovich Yegipko was an officer of the Soviet Navy and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He saw action during the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, and the Second World War, and rose to the rank of vice-admiral.