List of Famous people who died in 2001

Mohammed Atef was the military chief of al-Qaeda, and was considered one of Osama bin Laden's two deputies, the other being Ayman Al Zawahiri, although Atef's role in the organization was not well known by intelligence agencies for years. He was killed in a US airstrike in November 2001.

Jay Moriarity was a surfer from Santa Cruz, California. He was an accomplished surfer, waterman, and adventurer. As a surfer, he made his reputation surfing Mavericks in Half Moon Bay, California. At age 16, he was made internationally famous when his wipeout at Mavericks was caught on film and made the cover of Surfer magazine. Although a successful competitor, Jay is remembered as a soul surfer, winning many sportsmanship awards throughout his career. A biopic of his life, Chasing Mavericks, was released in 2012.

Vijaya Raje Scindia, born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior, Jivajirao Scindia, she ranked among the highest royal figures of the land. In later life, she became a politician of considerable influence and was elected repeatedly to both houses of the Indian parliament. She was also an active member, for many decades, of the Jana Sangh and co-founder of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Abraham J. Zelmanowitz was a computer programmer who worked for Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield on the 27th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City who died in the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center during the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Pavel Fyodorovich Sadyrin was a Soviet and Russian footballer and manager.

Lawrence Bernard "Larry" Singleton was an American criminal known for perpetrating an infamous rape and mutilation of adolescent hitchhiker Mary Vincent in California in 1978. He raped Vincent and cut off her arms, then left her to die in a culvert off the Interstate 5 in Del Puerto Canyon, California. Vincent managed to crawl up to safety and later acted as a key witness against the rapist. Released from prison on good behavior after serving 8 years of his 14-year sentence, he later murdered Roxanne Hayes, a mother of three. On February 19, 1997, police found Singleton covered in blood after stabbing her in his new home.

Beate Uhse-Rotermund was a German pilot, entrepreneur and sex pioneer. She was one of the very few female stunt pilots in Germany in the 1930s, during World War II she ferried planes for the German Luftwaffe and after World War II she started the first sex shop in the world. The company she started, Beate Uhse AG, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Anthony Joseph Maskell was an American Catholic priest who served the Archdiocese of Baltimore as a counselor from 1965 to 1994. He was removed from the ministry because of sexual abuse toward female students at Archbishop Keough High School between 1969 and 1975. The Netflix documentary series The Keepers alleges Maskell's involvement in the murder of Catherine Cesnik in 1969, after a former Keough student and alleged abuse victim, Jean Hargadon Wehner, claimed he showed her Cesnik's body to threaten Wehner into silence. Maskell denied all accusations until his death in 2001.

Lewis Michael Arquette was an American film actor, writer and producer. Arquette was known for playing J.D. Pickett on the television series, The Waltons, where he worked from 1978 to 1981.