List of Famous people who died in 1996

Nguyễn Chấn, known as Trần Văn Trà was a Vietnamese general. He was a commander in the Vietcong; a member of the Central Committee of the Lao Dong Party from 1960 to 1982; a lieutenant general in the army of the North Vietnam; chairman of Military Affairs Committee of the Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) (1964–1976).

Alejandro Agustín Lanusse was the de-facto president of the Argentine Republic between March 22, 1971, and May 25, 1973, during the military dictatorship of the country called the "Argentine Revolution".

Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson FRS was a Nobel laureate English chemist who pioneered inorganic chemistry and homogeneous transition metal catalysis.

Cláudio Mitsuhiro Kano was a Japanese Brazilian table tennis player who helped popularize the sport in Brazil and "spearheaded Brazilian table tennis in the 1990s".

Hiroshi Shō was the head of the Shō family, the former Ryūkyūan royal family. He was the great-grandson of Shō Tai, the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and was the last member of the family to hold the title of Marquess . Like most members of the kazoku system of peerage, and all heads of the Shō family since the abolition of the Ryukyu Kingdom, he lived in Tokyo for his whole life.

Queta Carrasco was a Mexican character actress.

Michel Mitrani was a French film director and screenwriter. He was the founder of the Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels in 1987. His 1974 film Les Guichets du Louvre was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.

Kurt Schmücker was a German politician, member of Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Sergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and several other European orchestras. Later in life, he taught at Mainz University in Germany and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

José Manuel Donoso Yáñez, known as José Donoso, was a Chilean writer, journalist and professor. He lived most of his life in Chile, although he spent many years in self-imposed exile in Mexico, the United States and Spain. Although he had left his country in the sixties for personal reasons, after 1973 he said his exile was also a form of protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He returned to Chile in 1981 and lived there until his death.