List of Famous people who died in 1972

José Miró Cardona was a Cuban politician. He served as Prime Minister for a period of some six weeks in early 1959, following his appointment by President Manuel Urrutia on January 5, 1959. On February 13, 1959, Miró unexpectedly resigned and was replaced by Fidel Castro.

Ștefan Procopiu was a Romanian physicist.

Neil Hosler McElroy was United States Secretary of Defense from 1957 to 1959 under President Eisenhower. He had been president of Procter & Gamble.

Nicolas Rashevsky was an American theoretical physicist who was one of the pioneers of mathematical biology, and is also considered the father of mathematical biophysics and theoretical biology.

Walter Ernest How was an English sailor, known for taking part in the Ernest Shackleton-led Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition from 1914 to 1917.

Norman Savage (1930–1973) was an English film editor. He is credited as the principal editor on seven feature films, and as the sound editor on another four. He worked with the director David Lean on four films that spanned Savage's entire career. Lean has been noted as possibly "the best British film director ever", and was himself a masterful editor. Savage started his career as an assistant editor on Lean's Hobson's Choice (1954). Savage was Anne V. Coates' first assistant editor for Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for Lean's 1965 film Doctor Zhivago, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for Lean's 1970 film Ryan's Daughter. Savage died of leukemia while editing the film Lady Caroline Lamb (1972). That film is the only one directed by Robert Bolt, a playwright and screenwriter who had worked on several films directed by Lean.