List of Famous people who died in 1986

Hoàng Văn Thái, born Hoàng Văn Xiêm, was a Vietnamese Army General and a communist political figure. His hometown was Tây An, Tiền Hải District, Thái Bình Province. During the Tết Offensive, he was the highest senior North Vietnamese officer in South Vietnam. He was the first chief of staff of the Vietnam People's Army, and was responsible for key military forces in North Vietnam. He was also Chief of Staff in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ.

Sir Moses Israel Finley, FBA was an American-born British academic and classical scholar. His prosecution by the McCarran Security Committee led to his move to England, where he became an English classical scholar and eventually master of Darwin College, Cambridge. His most notable work is The Ancient Economy (1973) in which he argued that the economy in antiquity was governed by status and civic ideology, rather than rational economic motivations.

George Maxim Anossov Hanfmann was a famous archaeologist and scholar of ancient Mediterranean art.

Heather Grace Angel was a British actress.

Abel Meeropol was an American songwriter and poet whose works were published under his pseudonym, Lewis Allan. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday. Meeropol was a member of the American Communist Party, but would later quit.

Eddie McAteer was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.