List of Famous people who died in 1979

Aleksei Ivanovich Markushevich was a Soviet mathematician, mathematical educator, and historian of mathematics. He is known for the Farrell–Markushevich theorem.

Gennady Viktorovich Komnatov was a Russian road cyclist. He was part of the Soviet team that won a gold medal in the 100 km team time trial at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He won three silver medals at the world championships in 1973–1975 in this event.

Charles William Morris was an American philosopher and semiotician.

Ernst Kals was a Kapitän zur See with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He commanded the Type IXC U-boat U-130 on five patrols, and sank twenty ships, for a total of 145,656 tons of Allied shipping. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Sidney Joseph "S.J." Perelman was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for The New Yorker. He also wrote for several other magazines, including Judge, as well as books, scripts, and screenplays. Perelman received an Academy Award for screenwriting in 1956.

Giulio Natta was an Italian chemist and Nobel laureate. He won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963 with Karl Ziegler for work on high polymers. He was also a recipient of Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1969.

Sydney Tafler was an English actor who after having started his career on stage, was best remembered for numerous appearances in films and television from the 1940s to the 1970s.