List of Famous people who died at 81

Benjamín "Kokoy" Trinidad Romuáldez was a Filipino politician who served as Governor of Leyte and later appointed as ambassador to the United States, China and Saudi Arabia.

Hans Howaldt was a successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I and also active in World War II. By the end of World War I he was promoted Kapitänleutnant.

William Sloane Coffin Jr. was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA officer, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of H. Richard Niebuhr's social philosophy led him to become a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He also was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. He went on to serve as Senior Minister at the Riverside Church in New York City and President of SANE/Freeze, the nation's largest peace and social justice group, and prominently opposed United States military interventions in conflicts, from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. He was also an ardent supporter of gay rights.

Penelope Ruth Mortimer was a Welsh-born English journalist, biographer, and novelist. Her semi-autobiographical novel The Pumpkin Eater (1962) was turned into a 1964 film – Anne Bancroft was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Jo Armitage, a character based on Mortimer herself.

Getatchew Mekurya was an Ethiopian jazz saxophonist.