1979 deaths

Amedeo "Amédée" Gordini (23 June 1899 – 25 May 1979) was an Italian-born race car driver and sports car manufacturer in France.

Émile Dewoitine (26 September 1892 – 5 July 1979) was a French aviation industrialist.

Gérard Blitz (1 August 1901 – 8 March 1979) was a Belgian Olympic swimmer and water polo player who competed at the 1920, 1924, 1928 and 1936 Olympics. He was the younger brother of Maurice Blitz, also a water polo player, and uncle of Gérard Blitz who founded Club Med in 1950.

Gilbert Cesbron (13 January 1913, Paris – 12 August 1979, Paris) was a French novelist.

William C. Frey (July 24, 1919 – February 16, 1979) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Walther Gerlach (1 August 1889 – 10 August 1979) was a German physicist who co-discovered, through laboratory experiment, spin quantization in a magnetic field, the Stern–Gerlach effect. The experiment was conceived by Otto Stern in 1921 and successfully conducted first by Gerlach in early 1922.

Fritz Albert Erich "Ete" Rademacher (9 June 1901 – 2 April 1979) was a German breaststroke swimmer and water polo goalkeeper who competed at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. In 1928 he was a member of the German water polo team that won the gold medal, he also won a silver medal in the 200 metres breaststroke. Four years later he won another silver medal with the German water polo team.

Henrich Focke (8 October 1890 – 25 February 1979) was a German aviation pioneer from Bremen and also a co-founder of the Focke-Wulf company. He is best known as the inventor of the Fw 61, the first successful German helicopter.

Jacques Mesrine (French pronunciation: [ʒak mɛʁin, mɛsʁin]; 28 December 1936 – 2 November 1979) was a French criminal responsible for numerous murders, bank robberies, burglaries, and kidnappings in France, the US, and Canada. Mesrine repeatedly escaped from prison and made international headlines during a final period as a fugitive when his exploits included trying to kidnap the judge who had previously sentenced him. An aptitude for disguise earned him the moniker "The Man of a Thousand Faces" and enabled him to remain at large while receiving massive publicity as a wanted man. Mesrine was widely seen as an anti-establishment Robin Hood figure. In keeping with his charismatic image, he was rarely without a glamorous female companion. A two-part film, Mesrine, which came out in 2008, was based on Mesrine's life.

Harry Meyen (born Harald Haubenstock; 31 August 1924 – 15 April 1979) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 40 films and television productions between 1948 and 1975. In the 1960s he also worked as a theatre director in West Germany.