List of Famous people who died in 2012

Jacqueline Rebecca Louise Piatigorsky was a French-American chess player, author, sculptor, philanthropist, and arts patron. She was a member of the Rothschild banking family of France.

Mutsuko Miki was a Japanese activist who advocated on behalf of pacifism, official compensation for comfort women, and improved Japan–North Korea relations. She was the widow of former Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki. Miki served as the wife of the Prime Minister of Japan, or First Lady, during her husband's two-year tenure from 1974–76.

Sanae Nakahara was a Japanese actress from Tokyo. She starred in over 80 films and television shows, the most prominent being her role in the films Lady Snowblood (1973), Yagyu Clan Conspiracy (1978), and Day of Resurrection (1980). Her husband was famed Japanese film director Kinji Fukasaku, and her son, Kenta Fukasaku, is another well-known Japanese film director.

Maurice Hugh Keen was a British historian specializing in the Middle Ages. His father had been the Oxford University head of finance and a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, and after schooling at Winchester College, Maurice became an undergraduate there in 1954. He was a contemporary and lifelong friend of Tom Bingham, later the Senior Law Lord, as well as of the military historian, Sir John Keegan, whose sister Mary he married.

Israel "Ulu" Grosbard was a Belgian-born, naturalized American theatre and film director and film producer.

Margaret Elaine Whitlam, AO was the wife of Gough Whitlam, the Prime Minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975. She was a social campaigner and published author, and also represented Australia in swimming at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney.

Jean-Yves Besselat was a member of the National Assembly of France.