List of Famous people who died in 1979

Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and an activist for human rights. He was murdered while editor-in-chief of one of the main Turkish daily newspapers Milliyet which then had a centre-left political stance.

Juliette Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.

Behçet Necatigil was a leading Turkish author, poet and translator.

Marcel Jouhandeau was a French writer.

Alvin Francis Karpis, a Depression-era gangster nicknamed "Creepy" for his sinister smile and called "Ray" by his gang members, was a Canadian-born criminal of Lithuanian descent known for being a leader of the Barker–Karpis gang in the 1930s. Karpis led the gang along with Fred Barker and Arthur "Doc" Barker. There were only four "public enemies" ever given the title of "Public Enemy #1" by the FBI and he was the only one to be taken alive. The other three, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson, were all killed before being captured. He also spent the longest time as a federal prisoner at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, serving twenty-six years.

Bruno Apitz was a German writer and a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov was a Soviet athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey. He is considered one of the best Russians ever in each of those sports.

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dannie Richmond, and Herbie Hancock.

Carl Wilhelm Kaisen was a German politician from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Between 1945 and 1965 he was the 2nd President of the Senate and Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. In 1958/59 he served as the 10th President of the Bundesrat. He became a symbol of the German reconstruction in Bremen after 1945.

Rebecca Helferich Clarke was a British-American classical composer and violist. Internationally renowned as a viola virtuoso, she also became one of the first female professional orchestral players. Born in England, Rebecca Clarke claimed both British and American nationalities and spent substantial periods of her long life in the United States, where she permanently settled after World War II. She was born in Harrow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London. Stranded in the United States at the outbreak of World War II, she married composer and pianist James Friskin in 1944. Clarke died at her home in New York at the age of 93.