* 11 January – Nguyen Khanh (born 1927), a Vietnamese general and politician was involved in many coup attempts, some of which failed, from 1960 until his defeat and exile from South Vietnam in 1965.
* 7 January – David R. Ellis, American film director (born 1952)
* 1 February – Ed Koch (born 1924), American lawyer and politician served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City.
* 19 February – American Nobel physicist, Robert Coleman Richardson (born 1937) was an experimental physicist whose area of research included sub-millikelvin temperature studies of helium-3. He shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for a discovery in1972 of the property of superfluidity in helium-3 atoms in the Cornell University Laboratory of atomic and solid state physics.
* 8 April – Margaret Thatcher (born 1925), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1979 and 1990 earned the nickname ‘Iron Lady’ through her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
* 15 May– Henrique Rosa (born 1946), former president of Guinea-Bissau (2003–2005), was a West African country with an estimated population of 1,600,000.
* 17 May – Jorge Rafael Videla (born 1925) was Argentina’s 42nd president.
* 7 June – American serial killer, rapist, and burglar, Richard Ramirez (born 1960), died of cancer while awaiting execution on California’s death row. He killed more than 14 people and was infamously dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’ by news media. He received 19 death sentences.
* 31 August – David Frost (born 1939), British journalist and broadcaster.
* 11 October – Erich Priebke (born 1913), German SS captain and war criminal.
* 28 October – Tadeusz Mazowiecki (born 1927), 1st Prime Minister of Poland.
* 30 November – American actor Paul Walker (born 1973), was most famous for his role as Brian O’Conner in the fast and furious franchise. He died in a car accident.
* 5 December – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (born 1918), was incarcerated for 27 years under the apartheid regime and was elected president in South Africa first democratic election and was a Nobel laureate.
* 12 December – Jang Sung-taek, North Korean politician (born 1946), was accused of being a counter-revolutionary. He was shortly after executed.
