- Jan 2 Ross Alexander, American stage and film actor (Captain Blood, Boulder Dam), commits suicide by gunshot at 29
- Jan 5 Marie Booth, child of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1864)
- Jan 6 Brother André [Alfred Bessette], Canadian Roman Catholic lay brother and saint (St Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal), dies at 91
- Jan 8 Felix Körling, Swedish sacred and children's music composer, dies at 72
- Jan 13 Martin Elmer Johnson, American adventurer and filmmaker, dies at 52
- Jan 13 Walter Brearley, cricketer (17 wkts in 4 Tests for Eng 1905-12), dies
- Jan 14 Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi poet, dramatist and novelist, dies at 47
- Jan 21 Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)
- Jan 23 Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (Minister of Education), dies at 60
- Jan 28 Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect (restored Panathinaiko Stadium 1896 Olympics Athens) and shooter (Olympic bronze trap, single shot 1908), dies at 74
- Feb 1 Marguerite Audoux, French novelist, dies at 73
- Feb 2 Abraham van Oosten, Dutch architect, and stained glass designer, dies of pneumonia at 39
- Feb 3 Marija Leiko, Latvian film actress (b. 1887)
- Feb 5 Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German author (Im Kampf um Gott), dies of uremia at 75
Elihu Root (1845-1937)
Feb 7 American statesman (Nobel Peace Prize, 1912), dies at 91
- Feb 8 Scato Gocko de Vries, Dutch paleographer and librarian, dies at 75
- Feb 11 Walter Burley Griffin, American architect (L-shaped floor plan, Carport) who designed Australia's capital Canberra and the NSW towns of Griffith and Leeton, dies of peritonitis at 60 after gall bladder surgery in Lucknow, India
- Feb 13 Carl Albrecht Bernoulli, Swiss writer, dies at 69
- Feb 14 Erkki Melartin, Finnish composer (Juhlamarssi; Summer Symphony; Fantasia Apocaliptica), dies at 62
- Feb 18 Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet politician, dies at 50
- Feb 20 Barlow Carkeek, Australian cricket wicket-keeper (6 Tests, 6 dismissals; Victoria), dies when struck by a car at 58
- Feb 23 Claude Buckenham, cricketer (21 wkts in 4 Tests for Eng 1909-10), dies
- Mar 2 Gustav Wohlgemuth, German composer, dies at 73
- Mar 6 Frank Vosper, British actor (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rome Express), dies at sea at 37
- Mar 8 Albert Verwey, Dutch poet and literary historian (Motion), dies at 71
Howie Morenz (1902-1937)
Mar 8 Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame center (Montreal Canadiens, 3-time Stanley Cup winner), dies of a heart attack at 34
- Mar 9 Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist, dies at 72
- Mar 10 Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer and Soviet dissident (We), dies at 53
- Mar 11 Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (b. 1860)
- Mar 11 Paul Scheinpflug, composer, dies at 61
- Mar 12 Charles-Marie Widor, French organist (Saint-Sulpice, 1870-1933), composer (10 organ symphonies), and professor (American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, 1921-34), dies at 93
- Mar 12 Jenő Hubay [Huber], Hungarian violinist, composer, and educator (Budapest Conservatory, 1886-1934), dies at 78
- Mar 13 Elihu Thomson, English-born American engineer who co-founded General Electric Company and inventor with 696 patents, dies at 83 [1]
- Mar 15 H. P. Lovecraft, American horror writer (At the Mountains of Madness, Weird Tales), dies at 46
- Mar 16 Austen Chamberlain, British statesman, (Foreign Secretary 1924-29, Nobel Peace Prize 1925 for anti-war Locano Pact), dies at 73
- Mar 18 Charles Haslewood Shannon, English lithographer and painter, dies at 73
- Mar 19 Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer (Anaconda, El Crimen del Otro), commits suicide at 58
Harry Vardon (1870-1937)
Mar 20 Jersey golfer (6 time British Open champion, US Open 1900), dies of lung cancer at 66
- Mar 22 Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, English aviator and ornithologist, dies at 71
- Mar 23 Helge Rode, Danish poet and critic, dies at 66
- Mar 25 John Drinkwater, English poet and playwright (Bird in Hand), dies at 54
- Mar 26 Albert Relf, English cricket all-rounder (13 Tests, 1 x 50, 25 wickets, BB 5/85; Sussex CCC, Auckland CA), commits suicide at 52
- Mar 29 Karol Szymanowski, Polish pianist and composer (Symphony No. 3 - Song Of The Night), dies of tuberculosis at 54
- Apr 2 Nathan Birnbaum, Austrian writer (Gottes Volk;; Der Ruf), and philosopher (early Zionist, later anti-Zionist), dies at 72
- Apr 4 Frantisek X Salda, Czech writer/critic, dies at 69
- Apr 8 Arthur Foote, American classical organist, composer, and member of the "Boston Six" (Suite for Strings in E), dies at 84
- Apr 8 William Henry Hadow, British educational reformer and musicologist (Oxford History of Music, Studies in Modern Music), dies at 77
- Apr 10 Algernon Ashton, British composer, dies at 77
- Apr 15 Ned Hanlon, American Baseball HOF center fielder (NL pennant 1887 Detroit Wolverines) and manager (5 × NL pennant Baltimore Orioles, Brooklyn Superbas), dies at 79
- Apr 15 Nikolai Artzibushev, Russian jurist and composer, dies at 79
- Apr 17 Yi Sang, Korean author and poet (Dying Words, Wings, Child’s Bone), dies of tuberculosis in a Japanese prison camp at 26
- Apr 19 William Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English historian and explorer (Spitzbergen), dies at 81
- Apr 25 Clem Sohn, air show performer dies at 26 when his chute fails to open
- Apr 25 Michał Drzymała, Polish peasant rebel (Drzymała's wagon), dies at 79
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)
Apr 27 Italian philosopher and Marxist theorist, dies at 46
- Apr 29 Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor (nylon), commits suicide at 41
- Apr 29 William Gillette, American stage and silent film actor (Sherlock Holmes), and playwright (Secret Service), dies at 83
- May 1 Snitz Edwards [Edward Neumann], Hungarian-American stage and silent film actor ("Phantom of the Opera"; "College"), dies at 69
- May 2 Arthur Somervell, English composer, dies at 73
- May 4 Noel Rosa, Brazilian guitrist, mandolin player, and songwriter, dies of tuberculosis at 26
Walter Mittelholzer (1894-1937)
May 9 Swiss aviation pioneer (Swiss Air) and aerial photographer, dies in a climbing accident on an expedition in Styria at 43 [1]
- May 10 William Tedmarsh, British silent movie actor (Two Beds and No Sleep), dies at 61
- May 11 Ellen Hansell, American tennis player (US National champion 1887), dies at 67
- May 11 Viliam Figuš-Bystrý, Slovak composer, dies at 62
- May 15 Phillip Snowden, British politician first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, dies at 72
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)
May 23 American industrialist and founder of Standard Oil, dies at 97
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
May 28 Austrian psychiatrist (Inferiority Complex), dies at 67
Jean Harlow (1911-1937)
Jun 7 American actress and 1930s' sex goddess (Dinner at 8; Bombshell), dies from gallbladder infection at 26
Robert Borden (1854-1937)
Jun 10 Canadian politician and 8th Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 1911-20), dies at 82
- Jun 11 R. J. [Reginald Joseph] Mitchell, British aircraft designer (Supermarine Spitfire), dies of cancer at 42
- Jun 12 Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1893)
- Jun 15 Ambrose Swasey, American mechanical engineer and inventor of telescopes, dies at 90 [1]
- Jun 18 Al Boasberg, American vaudeville, radio and film comedy writer (Jack Benny; Bob Hope; The Marx Brothers), dies of a heart attack at 44
- Jun 18 Gaston Doumergue, 60th Prime Minister of France (1913-14 and 1934) and 1st protestant French President (1924-31), dies at 73
J. M. Barrie (1860-1937)
Jun 19 Scottish novelist and playwright who created Peter Pan, dies at 77
Chester Greenwood (1858-1937)
Jul 5 American inventor (invented earmuffs at 15), dies at 78
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Jul 11 American composer (An American in Paris, Porgy And Bess, Summertime), dies from a brain tumor at 38
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)
Jul 20 Italian inventor and electrical engineer who pioneered work on long distance radio transmission (Nobel 1909), dies of a heart attack at 63
- Jul 22 Ted McDonald, Australian cricket fast bowler (11 Tests, 43 wickets, BB 5/32; Tasmania, Victoria, Lancashire CCC), dies in car crash at 46
- Jul 26 Gerda Taro (Gerta Pohorylle), German-born war photojournalist, dies covering Spanish Civil War aged 26
- Jul 28 Joseph Lee, American Father of Playgrounds movement, dies at 88
- Jul 28 Muslim Magomayev, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer, dies at 51
Charles E. Hires (1851-1937)
Jul 31 American pharmacist, inventor and manufacturer of the Hires Root Beer beverage, dies at 85
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
Aug 11 American Pulitzer prize-winning novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth), dies at 75
- Aug 11 George Morrison, American entrepreneur (owner of Mammoth Caves), commits suicide at 71 [1]
- Aug 13 Arthur Plunkett, English civil engineer (designed Sydney Harbour Bridge) (b. 1890)
- Aug 14 Herman [H. C.] McNeile ([pen name Sapper], British soldier and writer (Bulldog Drummond), dies of cancer at 48
- Aug 21 George Wright, American Baseball HOF shortstop (NA pennant 1872-75 Boston Red Stockings; NL pennant 1877-78 Boston Red Caps, 1879 Providence Grays), dies at 90
- Aug 22 David C Salas, Antillian writer (Josephina), dies
- Aug 23 Albert Roussel, French composer (Rapsodie Flamande), dies at 68
Andrew Mellon (1855-1937)
Aug 26 American banker (Mellon Bank), industrialist and Secretary of the Treasury (1921-32), dies at 82
- Aug 27 John Russell Pope, American architect (Jefferson Memorial, National Archives and Records Administration), dies at 63
- Aug 28 Frederick Burr Opper, American pioneering cartoonist (Happy Hooligan), dies at 80
- Sep 2 Esther de Farmer-of Rich, actress (Kniertje-On hope of blessing), dies
- Sep 2 Pierre de Coubertin, French educator and historian (founder International Olympic Committee; President IOC 1896–1925), dies of a heart attack at 74
- Sep 4 Giovanni Salviucci, Italian composer, dies at 29
- Sep 6 Henry Kimball Hadley, American composer (Bianca; Streets of Pekin), and conductor (San Francisco Symphony, 1915-18), dies of cancer at 65
- Sep 10 Sergei Tretyakov, Russian constructivist writer, playwright and special correspondent for Pravda, executed by Stalinist regime at 47
- Sep 13 Ellis Parker Butler, American author (Pigs is Pigs), dies at 67
Tomáš Masaryk (1850-1937)
Sep 14 Czech philosopher and 1st President of Czechoslovakia (1918-35), dies at 87
- Sep 15 Clifford Heatherley, English actor (For Love or Money, Cash), dies at 48
- Sep 21 Henri Capitant, French lawyer (Loi Falcidie), dies at 72
- Sep 23 Caro Roma [Carrie Northey], American composer and singer, dies at 68
- Sep 24 Clarence Larkin, American prison warden (Folsom Prison, California), dies from injuries inflicted during attempted prison break at 46
- Sep 26 Bessie Smith, American blues singer known as the "Empress of the Blues" (recorded over 200 songs), dies of injuries sustained in car crash at 43
- Sep 26 Edward A. Filene, American entrepreneur and philanthropist, dies at 77
- Sep 29 Ray Ewry, American track and field athlete (8 Olympic golds 1900, 04, 08), dies at 63
- Oct 9 August de Boeck, Flemish composer, dies at 72
- Oct 9 George August Alexander Alting von Geusau, Dutch Minister of war (1918-20), dies at 73
- Oct 15 James Marcus, American actor (The Eagle, The Lonely Trail), dies from a heart attack at 70
- Oct 16 Jean de Brunhoff, French children's book author (Babar the Elephant), dies at 37
- Oct 16 William Sealy Gosset, English statistician (Student's t-distribution), dies at 61
- Oct 19 Betty Carver, wife of English WWII Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, dies
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)
Oct 19 New Zealand physicist and father of nuclear physics (Nobel 1908), dies of intestinal paralysis at 66
- Oct 21 Lucy Diggs Slowe, American educator (Dean of Women, Howard University, 1922-37), tennis champion (American Tennis Association, 1917), and sorority co-founder (Alpha Kappa Alpha, 1908), dies at 52
- Oct 22 Frank Damrosch, German-born American author and music teacher (founded New York Musical Institute of Musical Art, later Julliard), dies at 88
- Oct 26 Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general, serving with the Imperial Russian and then Polish armies, dies at 70
- Nov 2 Maude Valérie White, French-born English composer, dies at 82
- Nov 3 Winthrop Ames, American theatrical director (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), dies at 66
- Nov 4 Rogelio del Villar, Spanish composer, dies at 61
- Nov 5 Jack McAuliffe, Irish-American boxer and undefeated World Lightweight champion (1886-93), dies at 71
- Nov 6 Johnston Forbes-Robertson, British actor and theatre director (Kathleen), dies at 84
Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937)
Nov 9 British Prime Minister (Labour: 1924, 1929-35), dies of natural causes at sea on board the liner Reina del Pacifico at 71
- Nov 10 Nikolai Batalov, Russian actor (Tretya meshchanskaya, Mother), dies from tuberculosis at 37
- Nov 13 Mrs. Leslie Carter, American actress and writer (Rocky Mountain Mystery, The Heart of Maryland), dies at 75
- Nov 14 Jack O'Connor, American baseball catcher (Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Browns) and manager (St. Louis Browns), dies at 71
- Nov 17 Jack Worrall, Australian cricket batsman (11 Tests, 5 x 50s; Victoria CA) and VFL premiership coach (Carlton 1906, 07, 08; Essendon 1911, 12), dies at 76
- Nov 23 George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (b. 1858)
- Nov 23 Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist, ploymath and writer, dies at 78
- Nov 23 Louis Victor Saar, Dutch-American composer, dies at 68
- Nov 25 Lilian Mary Baylis, English theatrical manager (Old Vic & Sadler's Wells Theater), dies at 63
- Dec 3 Prosper Poullet, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium 1925-26), dies at 69
Gustaf Dalén (1869-1937)
Dec 9 Swedish physicist and industrialist (AGA, Nobel Prize in Physics 1912), dies at 68
Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937)
Dec 20 German general during World War I, dies of liver cancer at 72
Frank Kellogg (1856-1937)
Dec 21 American politician and diplomat (US Secretary of State, 1925-29), tried to outlaw war (Kellogg–Briand Pact: Nobel Peace Prize, 1929), dies at 80
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Dec 28 French composer, pianist and conductor (Daphnis et Chloé; Boléro), dies at 62
- Dec 29 Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning