Života Panić (Serbian Cyrillic: Живота Панић) (November 3, 1933, Gornja Crnišava, Kingdom of Yugoslavia – November 19, 2003, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro) was the last acting minister of defense and army chief of staff in the Yugoslav government. Panić graduated from Yugoslavian military school as a tank commander and gradually rose through the ranks of the Yugoslav People's Army through the 1970s and 1980s. He was given authority over the 1st Army District (Belgrade) and was the senior officer in charge of the units which fought in the battle of Vukovar.