List of Famous people who died in 1978

Marguerite "Maggie" McNamara was a stage, film, and television actress and model from the United States. McNamara began her career as a teenage fashion model. She came to public attention in the controversial film The Moon Is Blue (1953) directed by Otto Preminger, reprising the role she played in the Chicago production of the play. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in the film.

Duncan James Corrowr Grant was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, MON, also known as Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti, was a Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women's rights activist.

John Davison Rockefeller III was an American philanthropist and the eldest son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He was engaged in a wide range of philanthropic projects, many of which his family had launched, as well as supporting organizations related to East Asian affairs. Rockefeller was also a major supporter of the Population Council, and the committee that created the Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City.

Harold Maurice Abrahams, CBE was an English track and field athlete. He was Olympic champion in 1924 in the 100 metres sprint, a feat depicted in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.

Charles F. Blair Jr. was an American aviation pioneer who helped work out the routes and navigation techniques necessary for long-distance flights. He served as a reserve officer, early in his career for the United States Navy, reaching the rank of captain, and later for the United States Air Force, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He died in a transportation accident in the Caribbean while captaining a Grumman Goose seaplane for his airline, Antilles Air Boats.

Lieutenant General Sir Reginald George Pollard, was a senior commander in the Australian Army. He served as Chief of the General Staff from 1960 to 1963.

Elaine Esposito held the record for the longest period of time in a coma according to Guinness World Records, having lost consciousness in 1941 and eventually dying in that condition more than 37 years later. Edwarda O'Bara and Aruna Shanbaug later exceeded Esposito's record of having been in the longest coma.

Sir Arnold Plant was a British economist.