List of Famous people who died in 2012

Datuk Punch Gunalan was a Malaysian badminton star, one of the finest combination doubles and singles players that the country has ever produced.

Georg Leber was a German Trades Union leader and a politician in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Michael Alexander Hopkins was a New Zealand sound editor. Hopkins and American Ethan Van der Ryn shared two Academy Awards for best sound editing on the films The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and King Kong. The pair were also nominated for their work on the 2007 film Transformers.

Sylvia Olga Fedoruk [Fe-doruk],, was a Canadian physicist, medical physicist, curler and the 17th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan.

Ric Waite was an American cinematographer whose numerous film and television credits included Red Dawn, Footloose, 48 Hrs., and The Long Riders. Waite received four Emmy nominations during his career. He won his only Emmy for his work on the 1976 television miniseries Captains and the Kings.

Russell P. "Rusty" Mills was an American animator, director and producer. A Primetime Emmy winner, Mills was best known for his work with Warner Bros. Animation, including Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Pinky and the Brain. Mills was a five time Emmy winner, receiving one Primetime Emmy and four Daytime Emmy awards.

Bingu wa Mutharika was a Malawian politician and economist who was President of Malawi from May 2004 until his death in April 2012. He was also President of the Democratic Progressive Party, which he founded in February 2005; it obtained a majority in Malawi's parliament in the 2009 general election. During his two terms in office, he was noted for being the Chairperson of the African Union in 2010–2011, as well as for several domestic controversies. In 2009, he purchased a private presidential jet for $13.26 million. This was followed almost immediately by a nationwide fuel shortage which was officially blamed on logistical problems, but was more likely due to the hard currency shortage caused by the freezing of aid by the international community He died in office from a cardiac arrest on 5 April 2012, at age 78.