List of Famous people who died at 96

Margherita Guarducci was an Italian archaeologist, classical scholar, and epigrapher. She was a major figure in several crucial moments of the 20th century academic community. A student of Federico Halbherr, she edited his works after his death. She was the first woman to lead archaeological excavations at the Vatican, succeeding Ludwig Kaas, and completed the excavations on Saint Peter's tomb, discovering relics she asserted were those of Saint Peter. She has asserted that the inscription on the Praeneste fibula is a forgery.

Bruce Lester was a South African-born English film actor with over 60 screen appearances to his credit between 1934 and his retirement from acting in 1958. Lester's career divided into two distinct periods. Between 1934 and 1938, billed as Bruce Lister, he appeared in upwards of 20 British films, mostly of the cheaply shot and quickly forgotten quota quickie variety. He then moved to the US, where he changed his surname to Lester, and found himself for a time appearing in some of the biggest prestige productions of their day, alongside stars such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn. Lester himself never achieved star-billing, but was said to have remarked that this at least meant that if a film was a flop, no blame ever fell on his shoulders.

Michael Schmaus was a German Roman Catholic theologian specializing in dogmatics.

John Mackey was the ninth Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand (1974–1983).

Charles Max Stein was an American mathematical statistician and professor of statistics at Stanford University.

Martin Lings, also known as Abū Bakr Sirāj ad-Dīn, was an English writer, scholar, and philosopher. A student of the Swiss metaphysician Frithjof Schuon and an authority on the work of William Shakespeare, he is best known as the author of Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, first published in 1983 and still in print.

Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.