List of Famous people who died in 2012

Masaharu Matsushita , was a Japanese businessman who served as the second President of Panasonic for sixteen years beginning in 1961. He was the son-in-law of Panasonic's founder, Konosuke Matsushita. Masaharu Matsushita has been credited with expanding Panasonic into a global brand during a time of high economic expansion in Japan.

Kiro Gligorov was the first President of the Republic of Macedonia, serving from 1991 to 1999. He held various high positions in the political establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including as Secretary of State for Finance in the Federal Executive Council, a member of the Yugoslav Presidency, as well as President of the Assembly of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from May 15, 1974 to May 15, 1978.

Jeroen Willems was a Dutch Golden Calf and Louis d'Or winning film, TV, and stage actor and singer.

Tomás Borge Martínez was a cofounder of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua and was Interior Minister of Nicaragua during one of the administrations of Daniel Ortega. He was also a renowned statesman, writer, and politician. Tomás Borge also held the titles of "Vice-Secretary and President of the FSLN", member of the Nicaraguan Parliament and National Congress, and Ambassador to Peru. Considered a hardliner, he led the "prolonged people's war" tendency within the FSLN until his death.

Meles Zenawi Asres was an Ethiopian politician who was President of Ethiopia and consecutively served as 2nd Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. He was considered the founder of the ethnofederalism of modern Ethiopia, which is still controversial democratic system due to concerning ethnic conflict and human rights abuses.

James Franklin Crow was Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a prominent population geneticist whose career spanned from the modern synthesis to the genomic era.

Georg Lassen was a German U-boat commander during World War II. He was a Watch Officer on U-29 at the outbreak of the war and later the skipper of the U-160 and recipient of the Knight’s Cross.