Editing 1972 (section)

===May===
[[File:Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg|thumb|100px|[[J. Edgar Hoover]]]]
[[File:%EC%9D%B4%EB%B2%94%EC%84%9D.JPG|thumb|100px|[[Lee Beom-seok (prime minister)|Lee Beom-seok]]]]
[[File:Prince-Edward-Duke-of-Windsor-King-Edward-VIII (cropped).jpg|thumb|100px|[[Edward VIII]]]]
* [[May 2]] – [[J. Edgar Hoover]], American civil servant, 1st [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) (b. [[1895]])
* [[May 3]] – [[Bruce Cabot]], American actor (b. [[1904]])
* [[May 4]] 
** [[Father Chrysanthus]], Dutch arachnologist (b. 1905)<ref>{{cite journal|last=v[an] H[elsdingen]|first=P[eter] J.|date=1973|title=Father Chrysanthus O.F.M. Cap.: 1 September 1905 – 4 May 1972|journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society|volume=2|issue=7|page=148|url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/node/2313}}</ref>
** [[Edward Calvin Kendall]], American chemist, recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (b. [[1886]])<ref>{{cite journal|title=Edward C. Kendall|url=http://www.nap.edu/html/biomems/ekendall.pdf|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|last=Ingle|first=Dwight|journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences|year=1974|volume=47|pages=249–90|pmid=11615626}}</ref> 
** [[Josep Samitier]], Spanish footballer (b. [[1902]])
* [[May 5]]
** [[Reverend Gary Davis]], American blues and gospel singer (b. [[1896]])
** [[Frank Tashlin]], American animation director (b. [[1913]])
* [[May 6]] – [[Deniz Gezmiş]], Turkish Marxist revolutionary (executed) (b. [[1947]])
* [[May 10]] – [[Rice Gemmell]], Australian tennis champion (b. [[1896]])
* [[May 11]] – [[Lee Beom-seok (prime minister)|Lee Beom-seok]], Korean activist, 1st [[Prime Minister of South Korea]] (b. [[1900]])
* [[May 12]] – [[Lionel Penrose]], English geneticist (b. [[1898]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.rcp.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/lionel-sharples-penrose|title=Lionel Sharples Penrose &#124; RCP Museum|website=history.rcp.ac.uk}}</ref>
* [[May 13]] – [[Dan Blocker]], American actor (b. [[1928]])
* [[May 15]] – [[Nigel Green]], South African-English actor (b. [[1924]])
* [[May 17]] – [[Gordon Lowe|Sir Gordon Lowe, Bt.]], British tennis player (b. [[1884]])
* [[May 18]] – [[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sidney Franklin]], American film director (b. [[1893]])
* [[May 22]]
** [[Cecil Day-Lewis]], British poet (b. [[1904]])
** Dame [[Margaret Rutherford]], English actress (b. [[1892]])
* [[May 23]] – [[Richard Day (art director)|Richard Day]], Canadian art director (b. [[1896]])
* [[May 24]] – [[Asta Nielsen]], Danish silent film star (b. [[1881]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/asta-nielsen-2/|title=Asta Nielsen – Women Film Pioneers Project|website=wfpp.columbia.edu}}</ref>
* [[May 28]] 
** The Duke of Windsor, previously King [[Edward VIII]] of the United Kingdom (b. [[1894]])<ref>{{cite book|author=Christopher Warwick|title=Abdication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJufAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson|isbn=978-0-283-99351-0|page=166}}</ref>
** [[Violette Leduc]], French writer (b. [[1907]])
* [[May 29]] – [[Prithviraj Kapoor]], Indian actor and director (b. [[1906]])
* [[May 31]] – [[Walter Jackson Freeman II]], American neurologist (b. [[1895]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Jackson-Freeman-II|title=Walter Jackson Freeman II &#124; American Neurologist & Neurosurgeon &#124; Britannica|date=November 10, 2024|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>