March 26, 1979

1979Nacho Novo, Spanish footballer^[†]

Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Novo was an assistant coach and served as the interim head coach for the final 5 matches of the 2023 season for USL League One side Lexington SC, as well as the head coach for the club's U23 team.

1979Ben Blair, New Zealand rugby union footballer^[†]

Ben Austin Blair is a former rugby union footballer. He played four tests for New Zealand. He scored 37 points on his All Blacks debut against Ireland A in 2001 at Ravenhill in Belfast; however, as this was not a test match he was not capped. His first test match appearance came in November that year against Scotland.

1979Hiromi Uehara, Japanese pianist and composer^[†]

Hiromi Uehara , often known mononymously as Hiromi, is a Grammy Award winning Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blending of musical genres such as stride, post-bop, progressive rock, classical, nu jazz and fusion in her compositions. In 2021, she performed at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

1979Pierre Womé, Cameroonian footballer^[†]

Pierre Nlend Womé is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. A journeyman, he played for 14 clubs in six countries. At international level, he made 68 FIFA-official appearances scoring 1 goal for the Cameroon national team.

1979Beauford Delaney, American-French painter (born 1901)^[†]

Beauford Delaney was an American modernist painter. He is remembered for his work with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as his later works in abstract expressionism following his move to Paris in the 1950s. Beauford's younger brother, Joseph, was also a noted painter.

1979Jean Stafford, American author and academic (born 1915)^[†]

Jean Stafford was an American short story writer and novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford in 1970.

1979Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in Washington, D.C.^[†]

Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981. Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, under whom he served as vice president twice and whom he succeeded as president in 1970. In 1978, Sadat and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, signed a peace treaty in cooperation with United States President Jimmy Carter, for which they were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.

1979An Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport during a rejected takeoff, killing 10.^[†]

Interflug GmbH was the national airline of East Germany from 1963 to 1991. Based in East Berlin, it operated scheduled and chartered flights to European and intercontinental destinations out of its hub at Berlin Schönefeld Airport, focusing on Comecon countries. Interflug also had significant crop dusting operations. Following German reunification, the company was liquidated.