List of Famous people who died at 96

Hermann Zapf was a German type designer and calligrapher who lived in Darmstadt, Germany. He was married to the calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf-von Hesse. Typefaces he designed include Palatino, Optima, and Zapfino.

Anne Brown was an American soprano who created the role of "Bess" in the original production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. She was also a radio and concert singer. She settled in Norway in 1948 and later became a Norwegian citizen.

Joan Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough was a French American aristocrat and socialite. She was the mistress and later the second wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.

Rina Lazo Wasem was a Guatemalan-Mexican painter, who began her career in mural painting with Diego Rivera as his assistant. She worked with him from 1947 until his death in 1957 on projects both in Mexico and Guatemala. Thereafter she remained an active painter, better known for her mural works than canvases although the latter have been exhibited in Mexico and other countries making her one of Guatemala's better known artists. She was a member of the Mexican muralism movement and while she criticized modern artists as too commercial and not committed to social causes. She believed muralism would revive in Mexico because of its history.

Shmuel Ben-Artzi was a Polish-born Israeli writer, poet and educator. Ben-Artzi was also the father in-law of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mildred Cohn was an American biochemist who furthered understanding of biochemical processes through her study of chemical reactions within animal cells. She was a pioneer in the use of nuclear magnetic resonance for studying enzyme reactions, particularly in Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Catherine Conn, better known professionally as Kitty Carlisle and also billed as Kitty Carlisle Hart, was an American stage and screen actress, singer and spokeswoman for the arts. She is best remembered as a regular panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth. She served 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Arts from President George H. W. Bush. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1999.