List of Famous people who died in 1986

Dick James was a British music publisher and singer, and, together with his son Stephen, founded the DJM record label and recording studios, as well as the Beatles' publisher Northern Songs.

Domingo Segundo Moreno Jimenes was a writer from the Dominican Republic; the founder and leader of the Posthumism, a Dominican literary movement.

Helge Sivertsen was a Norwegian school administrator and elected official. He was best known as a champion discus thrower in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Mãe Menininha do Gantois also known as Mother Menininha do Gantois, was a Brazilian spiritual leader (iyalorixá) and spiritual daughter of orixá Oxum, who officiated for 64 years as the head of one of the most noted Candomblé temples, the Ilê Axé Iyá Omin Iyamassê, or Terreiro do Gantois, of Brazil, located in Alto do Gantois in Salvador, Bahia. She was instrumental in gaining legal recognition of Candomblé and its rituals, bringing an end to centuries of prejudice against Afro-Brazilians, who practiced their faith. When she died on 13 August 1986, the State of Bahia declared a three-day state mourning in her honour, and the City Council of Salvador held a special session to pay tributes to her. The Terreiro do Gantois temple has been declared a protected national monument.

Ilya Aleksandrovich Averbakh was a Soviet film director. His 1972 film, Monologue, was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

Tezer Özlü, Turkish writer.

Mahsum Korkmaz, also known as Agit, was the first commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s military forces. Korkmaz moved to Lebanon in 1979 and alongside Kemal Pîr was responsible for the recruitment across Turkey. He is known to have led the 15 August 1984 PKK attacks which was the start of the PKK's armed rebellion for Kurdish independence. He was killed by Turkish forces on 28 March 1986.

Ingrid Maria Margarete Leodolter was a physician and Austria's first Minister of Public Health and Environmental Protection.

Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving President of Finland from 1956 until 1982. He was the third and most recent president from the Agrarian League/Center Party. As head of state for nearly 26 years, he dominated Finnish politics, held a large amount of power, won his later elections with little opposition and has often been classified as an autocrat. Nevertheless, he remains a respected figure.

Cheikh Anta Diop was a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician who studied the human race's origins and pre-colonial African culture. Though Diop is sometimes referred to as an Afrocentrist, he predates the concept and thus was not himself an Afrocentric scholar. However, "Diop thought", as it is called, is paradigmatic to Afrocentricity. His work was greatly controversial and throughout his career, Diop argued that there was a shared cultural continuity across African peoples that was more important than the varied development of different ethnic groups shown by differences among languages and cultures over time.