| 143701 | December 21 | Death | 1971 – Charles C. Banks, English fighting pilot (b. 1893) |
| 143702 | December 21 | Death | 1974 – James Henry Govier, English painter and illustrator (b. 1910) |
| 143703 | December 21 | Death | 1974 – Richard Long, American actor and director (b. 1927) |
| 143704 | December 21 | Death | 1976 – Karin Ekelund, Swedish actress (b. 1913) |
| 143705 | December 21 | Death | 1982 – Abu Al-Asar Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani poet and composer (b. 1900) |
| 143706 | December 21 | Death | 1982 – Ants Oras, Estonian-American author and academic (b. 1900) |
| 143707 | December 21 | Death | 1983 – Paul de Man, Belgian-American philosopher, critic, and academic (b. 1919) |
| 143708 | December 21 | Death | 1986 – Bill Simpson, Scottish actor (b. 1931) |
| 143709 | December 21 | Death | 1987 – John Spence, American singer (No Doubt) (b. 1969) |
| 143710 | December 21 | Death | 1988 – Paul Jeffreys, English bass player (Be-Bop Deluxe) (b. 1952) |
| 143711 | December 21 | Death | 1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907) |
| 143712 | December 21 | Death | 1989 – Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Nigerian-English photographer, co-founded Autograph ABP (b. 1955) |
| 143713 | December 21 | Death | 1990 – Clarence Johnson, American engineer, designed the Lockheed U-2 and Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (b. 1910) |
| 143714 | December 21 | Death | 1991 – Sheldon Mayer, American author and illustrator (b. 1917) |
| 143715 | December 21 | Death | 1992 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (b. 1901) |
| 143716 | December 21 | Death | 1992 – Albert King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1924) |
| 143717 | December 21 | Death | 1992 – Nathan Milstein, Russian-American violinist and composer (b. 1903) |
| 143718 | December 21 | Death | 1995 – Charlie Tumahai, New Zealand singer-songwriter and bass player (Be-Bop Deluxe, Mississippi, and Herbs) (b. 1949) |
| 143719 | December 21 | Death | 1997 – Amie Comeaux, American singer and actress (b. 1976) |
| 143720 | December 21 | Death | 1998 – Roger Avon, English actor (b. 1914) |
| 143721 | December 21 | Death | 1998 – Karl Denver, Scottish-English singer (b. 1931) |
| 143722 | December 21 | Death | 1998 – Ernst-Günther Schenck, German colonel and physician (b. 1904) |
| 143723 | December 21 | Death | 2001 – Dick Schaap, American journalist and author (b. 1934) |
| 143724 | December 21 | Death | 2003 – Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 1924) |
| 143725 | December 21 | Death | 2004 – Autar Singh Paintal, Indian physiologist and neurologist (b. 1925) |
| 143726 | December 21 | Death | 2005 – Elrod Hendricks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940) |
| 143727 | December 21 | Death | 2006 – Scobie Breasley, Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1914) |
| 143728 | December 21 | Death | 2006 – Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940) |
| 143729 | December 21 | Death | 2007 – Ken Hendricks, American businessman, founded ABC Supply (b. 1941) |
| 143730 | December 21 | Death | 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) |