List of Famous people who died in 1981

Paolo Mosconi was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He became an archbishop in 1967 and served briefly as Apostolic Nuncio in Madagascar and Iraq.

Shigeru Egami was a pioneering Japanese master of Shotokan karate who founded the Shōtōkai style. He was a student of Gichin Funakoshi, who is widely recognized as the founder of modern karate.

Donald Wills Douglas Sr. was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.

Don Megowan was an American actor. He played the Gill-man on land in The Creature Walks Among Us, the final part of the Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy.

Jakob Ackeret, FRAeS was a Swiss aeronautical engineer. He is widely viewed as one of the foremost aeronautics experts of the 20th century.

Marcel Raymond was a Swiss literary critic who specialized in French literature. He is generally grouped with the so-called "Geneva School".