List of Famous people who died in 1972

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was a British paleoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai Gorge with his wife, fellow paleontologist Mary Leakey. Having established a program of palaeoanthropological inquiry in eastern Africa, he also motivated many future generations to continue this scholarly work. Several members of Leakey's family became prominent scholars themselves.

Sir James Douglas Wishart Thomson, 2nd Baronet was a Scottish Unionist politician.

Violet Trefusis was an English socialite and author. She is chiefly remembered for her lengthy affair with the writer Vita Sackville-West, which the two women continued after their respective marriages. This was featured in novels by both parties; in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography, and in many letters and memoirs of the period, roughly 1912–1922. She may have been the inspiration for aspects of the character Lady Montdore in Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate, and of Muriel in Harold Acton's The Soul's Gymnasium.

Louis Salvérius, also known as Salvérius or Salve was a Belgian comics artist. He was best known for co-creating the Les Tuniques Bleues series. He died at the age of 38 from a heart attack, after which the series was taken over by Lambil.

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck was the 3rd Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan.

Klaus Pringsheim Sr. was a German-born composer, conductor, music-educator and the twin brother of Katharina "Katia" Pringsheim, who married Thomas Mann in 1905.

Henry George Orlando Bridgeman DSO, MC, DL, JP,, styled The Honourable from 1898, was a British soldier.

Suat Derviş was a Turkish novelist, journalist, and political activist, who was among the founders of the Socialist Women’s Association in 1970.

Jean Claude Michel Casadesus was a French classical pianist. He was the son of the renowned pianists Robert and Gaby Casadesus, and grandnephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus.