People Who Died in 2012
A-E
- James Abdnor, Representative and Senator from South Dakota
- John Arden, English plarywright and novelist
- Neil Armstrong, astronaut
- Ray Bradbury, writer
- Andrew Breitbart, publisher, activist
- Ernest Borgnine, actor
- Jack Bascom Brooks, U.S. Congressman
- Helen Gurley Brown, magazine editor, writer
- Dave Brubeck, jazz musician, composer
- Milt Campbell, athlete
- Don Carter, bowler
- Elliott Cook Carter, Jr., composer
- Dick Clark, TV personality
- Don Cornelius, TV personality
- Richard Dawson, actor, game show host
- Phyllis Diller, comedian
- Nora Ephron, screenwriter, director, actor
F-L
- Ben Gazzara, actor
- Robin Gibb, singer, songwriter
- Sam Melville Gibbons, U.S. Congressman
- Andy Griffith, actor
- James Russell Grover, Jr., U.S. Congressman
- Larry Hagman, actor
- Marvin Hamlisch, composer
- Whitney Houston, singer, actor
- Daniel Ken Inouye, U.S. Senator
- Etta James, singer
- William J. Janklow, four-term Governor of South Dakota
- Davy Jones, musician, TV personality
- Edgar Lanier (Ed) Jenkins, U.S. Congressman
- Rodney King, beating victim
- Thomas Kinkade, artist
M-Q
- George McGovern, U.S. Senator
- Russell Means, activist, actor
- Joseph E. Murray, surgeon, Nobel Prize recipient
- Oscar Niemeyer Soares, Brazil's foremost 20th-century architect
- Donald Milford Payne, Congressman from New Jersey
- Joe Paterno, coach, scandal figure
R-Z
- Adrienne Rich, poet
- Sally Ride, astronaut
- Jenni Rivera, singer, actor
- H. Norman Schwarzkopf, military leader
- Tony Scott, filmmaker
- Maurice Sendak, illustrator, writer
- Yitzhak Shamir, soldier, former Prime Minister of Israel
- Ravi Shankar, musician, composer
- Josef Skvorecky, writer
- Arlen Specter, U.S. senator / political figure
- Omar Suleiman, Egyptian politician
- Donna Summer, singer
- Antoni Tàpies, Spanish abstract painter
- Gore Vidal, writer
- Mike Wallace, TV Newscaster
- Doc Watson, guitarist, country musician
- Kitty Wells, country singer
- Andy Williams, singer, TV personality
- Adam Yauch, rapper, filmmaker
