List of Famous people who died in 2011

Salman Taseer was a Pakistani businessman and politician, who served as the 26th Governor of Punjab from 2008 until his assassination in 2011.

Walter Giller was a German actor. He was very successful in the 1950s and 1960s, when he was often seen as a comedic leading man. One of his most successful and more serious roles was in Roses for the Prosecutor.

Sidney Arthur Lumet was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), and The Verdict (1982) and one for Best Adapted Screenplay for Prince of the City (1981). He did not win an individual Academy Award, but did receive an Academy Honorary Award, and 14 of his films were nominated for Oscars, including Network, which was nominated for ten and won four.

Burhānuddīn Rabbānī was an Afghan politician who served as President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as President from November to 20 December 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen at the Bonn International Conference on Afghanistan.

Michael Christopher Starr was an American musician best known as the original bassist for the rock band Alice in Chains, which he played with from the band's formation in 1987 until January 1993. He was also a member of Sato, Gypsy Rose and Sun Red Sun. Starr died of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 44 in 2011.

James Edward Bowman Jr. was an American physician and specialist in pathology, hematology, and genetics. He was a professor of pathology and genetics at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.

Augustus Owsley Stanley III was an American audio engineer and clandestine chemist. He was a key figure in the San Francisco Bay Area hippie movement during the 1960s and played a pivotal role in the decade's counterculture. Under the professional name Bear, he was the soundman for the rock band the Grateful Dead, whom he met when Ken Kesey invited them to an Acid Test party. As their sound engineer, Stanley frequently recorded live tapes behind his mixing board and developed their Wall of Sound sound system, one of the largest mobile public address systems ever constructed. Stanley also helped Robert Thomas design the band's trademark skull logo.

Mohammad Ghani Hikmat was an Iraqi sculptor and artist credited with creating some of Baghdad's highest-profile sculptures and monuments and was known as the "sheik of sculptors". He is also known as an early member of Iraq's first 20th-century art groups, including Al-Ruwad and The Baghdad Modern Art Group; two groups that helped to bridge the gap between tradition and modern art. He was also instrumental in recovering many of Iraq's missing artworks, which were looted following the 2003 invasion.

Laura Inés Pollán Toledo was a prominent Cuban opposition leader. Pollan founded the dissident group Ladies in White, which holds pacific protest marches with the wives and spouses of political prisoners in Cuba to demand their release.

Vladimir Krainev was a Russian pianist and professor of piano, People's Artist of the USSR.