List of Famous people who died in 2001

Agha Shahid Ali was an Indian-American Kashmiri poet. His collections include A Walk Through the Yellow Pages, The Half-Inch Himalayas, A Nostalgist's Map of America, The Country Without a Post Office, and Rooms Are Never Finished, the latter a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001.

John Joseph Haley III was an American film director, producer and writer, and a two-time recipient of the Emmy Award. He is best known as the director of the 1974 compilation film That's Entertainment! and as the second husband of Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland, who had starred with his father in The Wizard of Oz.

John George Schmitz was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and California State Senate from Orange County, California. He was also a member of the John Birch Society. In 1972 he was the candidate for President of the United States of the American Independent Party, later known as the American Party.

Liisi Oterma was a Finnish astronomer, the first woman to get a Ph.D. degree in astronomy in Finland.

Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress for Friendly Persuasion (1956).

Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko was a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, corresponding member of USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), and member of The International Academy of Computer Science. She developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming, called the Address programming language. Over the period of her academic career, Yushchenko supervised 45 Ph.D students. Further professional achievements include Yushchenko being awarded two USSR State Prizes, The USSR Council of Ministers Prize, The Academician Glushkov Prize, and The Order of Princess Olga. Yushchenko was the first woman in the USSR to become a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in programming.

Sir Harry Donald Secombe was a Welsh comedian, actor and singer. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme The Goon Show (1951–1960), playing many characters, but most notably, Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Bumble in Oliver! (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs.

Edgar Efraín Fuentes, better known as Gary was an Argentine singer of cuarteto songs. His records, first as one of the singers with Tru-la-lá band and then as solo artist with his own band, sold 2 million copies during the 10 most active years of his career.

Jorge Leal Amado de Faria was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands in 1976. His work reflects the image of a Mestiço Brazil and is marked by religious syncretism. He depicted a cheerful and optimistic country that was beset, at the same time, with deep social and economic differences.

Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, screenwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. Adams was author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which originated in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime and generated a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and in 2005 a feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.