List of Famous people who died in 1980

Sir Alexander Abel Smith, KCVO, TD was a British Army officer and merchant banker.

Walter Henry "Doc" Snell was a pinch-hitter/catcher in Major League Baseball who played briefly for the Boston Red Sox during the 1913 season. Following this brief baseball career he became a successful mycologist who worked primarily at Brown University for the next 60 years.

Samuel Wainer was a Brazilian journalist and author. Wainer was born into a Jewish family from Bessarabia, more precisely in the Edineț District, then part of the Russian Empire. His family immigrated to Brazil in 1912, settling in São Paulo. He would later found and direct the Diretrizes magazine and the Última Hora newspaper. He was married to Danuza Leão, Brazilian journalist and model, sister of Nara Leão. They had a son, Samuel Wainer Filho, who was also a journalist. He died in 1984 in a car accident with a camera operator. Wainer also had more two children: plastic artist Débora "Pinky" Wainer and film producer Bruno Wainer.

Osamu Nakamura is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a two-time winner of the Ōshō title, and the current president of the Professional Shogi Players Group.