Deaths Date 1939 | History by KabAstro

Jan 2 Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, dies at 74

Amelia Earhart (1897-1939)

Jan 5 American aviator (1st woman to fly solo across the Atlantic), is declared dead at 41 after disappearing over the Pacific Ocean in 1937

Jan 6 Albert Ward, cricketer (England batsman in 7 Tests 1893-95), dies
Jan 9 Johann Strauss, Austrian conductor and Royal Ball director, dies at 72
Jan 10 Jameson Thomas, British actor (Piccadilly, Farmer's Wife), dies from tuberculosis at 50
Jan 10 Julius Bittner, Austrian composer (Little Violet; Missa Austriaca), dies at 64
Jan 13 Jacob Ruppert Jr., American Baseball HOF executive (owner New York Yankees 1915-39; signed Babe Ruth; built Yankee Stadium), dies from phlebitis at 71
Jan 19 Cliff Heathcote, American baseball player (b. 1898)
Jan 23 Matthias Sindelar, Austria soccer star, dies under mysterious circumstances at 35
Jan 24 Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist, dies at 71
Jan 27 John Watson, Canadian philosopher (Objective Idealism), dies at 91
Jan 28 W. B. Yeats, Irish poet (Wild Swans at Coole-Nobel 1923), dies at 73
Feb 4 Edward Sapir, American linguist and cultural anthropologist (North American Indian languages), dies at 55
Feb 4 Henri Deterding, Dutch oil magnate (Royal Oil, Shell), dies at 72
Feb 7 Boris Grigoriev, Russian avant-garde painter and graphic artist, dies at 53

Pius XI (1857-1939)

Feb 10 Italian 259th Pope (1922-39), dies at 81

Feb 11 Franz Schmidt, Austro-Hungarian cellist, pianist, and composer, dies at 64
Feb 15 Foppe G. Scheltema, Dutch lawyer, dies at 47
Feb 15 Henri Jaspar, 27th Prime Minister of Belgium (1927-31), dies at 68
Feb 15 Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Russian painter (b. 1878)
Feb 16 Jura Soyfer, Austrian political journalist and cabaret writer, dies at Buchenwald concentration camp at 26
Feb 17 Willy Hess, German violinist, dies at 79
Feb 18 Ludwig Bonvin, composer, dies at 89
Feb 22 Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (Campos de Castilla), dies at 63
Feb 27 Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary (Central Committee member, Soviet Minister for Education, wife of Vladimir Lenin), dies at 70

Howard Carter (1873-1939)

Mar 2 British archaeologist and Egyptologist who found King Tutankhamun's tomb, dies at 65

Mar 6 Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician (Proving π is a transcendental number), dies at 86
Mar 7 Amadeo Roldán, Cuban composer and violinist, dies at 38
Mar 7 John Jules Barrish, Irish writer and philosopher, dies at 53
Mar 13 Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, French scholar and philosopher, dies at 81
Mar 18 Henry Lunn, English humanitarian and religious leader, dies at 79
Mar 19 Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
Mar 20 Percy Dean, British naval lieutenant and politician who received the Victoria Cross for saving men during the raid of Zeebrugge, dies at 61
Mar 21 Evald Aav, Estonian composer, dies at 39
Mar 27 Constance Lindsay Skinner, Quesnel British Columbia, Canadian author (Rivers of America), dies at 57
Mar 28 Francis Matthew John Baker, Australian politician (b. 1903)
Apr 5 William Cooper, Australian cricket spin bowler (2 Tests, 9 wickets, BB 6/120; Victoria), dies at 89
Apr 6 Robert Courtneidge, British theater producer, dies
Apr 7 Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (1932-39), dies at 59
Apr 9 Emilio Serrano y Ruiz, Spanish composer, dies at 89
Apr 10 Alfredo Panzini, Italian author (Il Bacio de Lesba), dies at 75
Apr 11 S.S. Van Dine [pseudonym for William Huntingdon Wright], American critic and detective writer (Philo Vance), dies at 50
Apr 18 Theo Mann, Dutch actress (Pink Bernd, Hedda Gabler), dies at 88
Apr 21 Herman Finck, British conductor (Palace Theatre (London), 1900-20), theater and light classical composer (In The Shadows), dies at 66
Apr 25 John Foulds, British cellist, musicologist, and composer (World Requiem; Three Mantras), dies in Calcutta of cholera at 58
May 3 [Karl Eduard] Wilhelm Groener, German general, dies at 71
May 11 Yevgeny Miller [Eugen Ludwig Müller], Baltic German general and a leader of the anticommunist White Army during and after the Russian Civil War, executed at 71 after being kidnapped in Paris by Soviet intelligence and taken to Moscow where he was tortured and eventually shot
May 13 Stanislaw Lesniewski, Polish logician and mathematician (Warsaw School of Logic), dies at 53
May 13 Wilhelm Normann, German chemist (hydrogenated liquid fat creating trans fat), dies at 69
May 20 Joe Carr, American Pro Football HOF contributor (NFL President 1921-39), dies from a heart attack at 59
May 22 Ernst Toller, German playwright, commits suicide at 45
May 22 Jiri Mahen, Czech author (b. 1882)
May 25 Joseph Duveen, British art connoisseur (Elgin marbles), dies at 69
May 26 Charles Horace Mayo, American surgeon and co-founder (Mayo Clinic), dies at 74
May 26 Cornelis Jacobus Snijders, Dutch military leader - Supreme Commander of Dutch Navy (1910-18), dies at 86
May 27 Joseph Roth, Austrian-Jewish journalist (Fluctuate ohne Ende), dies of pneumonia at 44
May 29 Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint and foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, dies of a carcinoma at 74
May 30 Floyd Roberts, American auto racer, killed in a 100 mph crash during 1939 Indianapolis 500 at 39
Jun 4 Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (Lovie Austin; King Oliver; New Orleans Feetwarmers; Noble Sissle; Sidney Bechet), dies of a heart attack at 39
Jun 5 Elijah Beardsworth, British world quick shaving champion, dies
Jun 5 Frank van de Goes, Dutch writer and Marxist theorist, dies at 80
Jun 9 Owen Moore, Irish actor (She Done Him Wrong), commits suicide at 52
Jun 13 Arthur Coningham, Australian cricketer (one Test for Australia 1894), dies at 75
Jun 13 Volter Kilpi, Finnish writer (Suljetuilla Porteilla), dies at 64
Jun 16 Chick Webb, American jazz drummer and big band bandleader (introduced Ella Fitzgerald), dies of Pott's disease (tuberculosis of the spine), at 34
Jun 17 Eugene Weldman, the last person to be publicly guillotined in France, dies at 31. When asked if he had remorse for his victims he had killed, he replied, “Remorse, what for? I didn’t even know them”
Jun 18 Frans "Sas" van Aerschot, Flemish operetta actor (Paljas), dies at 73
Jun 19 Grace Abbott, American social worker (US Children's Bureau), dies at 60
Jun 25 Richard Seaman, British auto racer (German GP 1938), dies in a race accident in Belgian Grand Prix at 26
Jun 26 Ford Madox Ford [Hueffer], British novelist (The Good Soldier), critic, and journal editor (The Transatlantic), dies at 65
Jun 27 David Werner Amram, American lawyer, legal and Talmudic scholar, Zionist, and author (The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy), dies at 73
Jul 1 Louis Davids [Simon David], Dutch cabaret artist and comedian, dies at 65
Jul 7 Deacon White, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (NL batting champion, RBI leader 1877; Boston Red Stockings), dies from heat stroke at 91
Jul 8 Havelock Ellis, English physician and social reformer who studied sexual behaviour (Man & Woman), dies at 80
Jul 13 Margaret Johnson, American jazz pianist known as "Countess" and "Queenie" (Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy; Lester Young), dies of tuberculosis at 20
Jul 14 Alphonse Mucha, Czech Nouveau painter and artist, dies at 78
Jul 15 Johon Mellanby, physiologist, dies
Jul 15 Percy Scott Worthington, architect, dies
Jul 16 Beatrice Erskine Lane Suzuki, Zen student, dies
Jul 18 Witold Maliszewski, Polish composer, dies at 65
Jul 19 Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (Curfew Must Not Ring) and writer, dies at 89
Jul 19 Tom Hayward, English cricket batsman (35 Tests, 3 x 100; HS 137; Surrey CCC), dies at 68
Jul 20 Joseph Mendes da Costa, sculptor, dies
Jul 26 Billy Murphy, New Zealand boxer (world featherweight champion 1890; first world champion in any class from NZ), dies at 75
Jul 27 Alexandre Stellio [Fructueux], Martinican biguine clarinetist, composer, and bandleader, dies at 54
Jul 28 William James Mayo, American surgeon and co-founder (Mayo Clinic in Minnesota), dies at 78
Aug 2 Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosicrucian author and mystic, dies at 55
Aug 3 August Enna, Danish opera composer (The Witch; Kleopatra), dies at 80
Aug 11 Jean Bugatti, Italian automobile designer (b. 1909)
Aug 16 Ron Oxenham, cricketer (7 Tests for Australia, 14 wickets), dies
Aug 19 Johannes Marinus Meulenhoff, Dutch publisher, dies at 70
Aug 23 Sidney Coe Howard, American playwright (Silver Cord, Pulitzer 1925), dies at 48
Aug 24 William Moule, Australian lawyer, politician and cricketer (Australia v England 1880), dies at 81
Aug 25 (Charles) "Babe" Siebert, Canadian NHL ice hockey player, 1925-39, 3X All-Star (Montreal Maroons, Boston Bruins, and 2 other teams), drowns in Lake Huron at 35
Sep 5 Cornelis J "Cor" van Ast, Dutch actor and director (Ghost Hotel, Two Boys), dies at 67
Sep 6 Arthur Rackham, English book illustrator (Grimm's Fairy Tales, Rip van Winkle), dies of cancer at 71
Sep 7 Kyoka Izumi, Japanese novelist and kabuki playwright, dies at 65
Sep 13 Eugene Foss, American politician (45th Governor of Massachusetts), dies at 80
Sep 17 Ethel M. Dell, English author (Storm Drift), dies at 58
Sep 18 Gwen John, Welsh painter, dies at 63
Sep 18 Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter, and photographer (b. 1885)
Sep 20 Paul Bruchési, French Canadian Catholic archbishop of Montreal, dies at 83
Sep 21 Armand Călinescu, Prime Minister of Romania, assassinated by the iron guard at 46

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Sep 23 Austrian neurologist and father of psychology, dies at 83

Sep 24 Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer (Universal Pictures), dies of cardiovascular disease at 72
Sep 28 Felicjan Szopski, Polish composer, dies at 74
Sep 29 Samuel Dickstein, Polish mathematician, dies in WWII bombing at 88
Oct 7 Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (blood pressure studies), dies at 70
Oct 10 Eleanor Rigby, a real person whose name may have suggested the title to The Beatles song (b. 1895)
Oct 16 Ludolf Nielsen, Danish composer, dies at 63
Oct 21 H G "Nummy" Deane, South African cricket batsman (17 Tests [12 as captain], 3 x 50; Natal, Transvaal), dies from a heart attack at 44
Oct 23 Zane Grey, American western novelist (Spirit of the Border), dies at 67
Oct 25 Cornelis JK van Aalst, president Dutch Business Society, dies at 73
Oct 28 Alice Brady, American silent and talkie film actress (My Man Godfrey; The Gay Divorcee; Zenobia), dies of cancer at 46
Oct 29 Dwight B. Waldo, American educator (first President of Western Michigan University), dies at 75
Oct 31 Otto Rank [Rosenfeld], Austria psychoanalyst (Trauma of Geburt), dies
Nov 3 Waldemar Lindgren, Swedish-American Geologist (economic geology, ore classification), dies at 79
Nov 4 Charles Arnold Tournemire, French organist and composer, dies at 69
Nov 5 Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist, dies at 88
Nov 6 Adolphe Max, Belgian politician (Mayor of Brussels - escaped German captivity WWI), dies at 69
Nov 9 Dirk Klop, Dutch intelligence lt, shot by German Abwehr
Nov 11 Jan Opletal, Czech student, victim of Nazi violence in Prague

Norman Bethune (1890-1939)

Nov 12 Canadian doctor, communist and humanitarian (Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War), dies of blood poisoning from a cut on his finger from operating on a wounded soldier at 49

Nov 12 Oscar [Bachigaloupi] Tourniaire, Dutch actor and director (Pink Kate), dies at 59
Nov 13 George Nicholls Jr, actor (Finishing School), dies at 42
Nov 13 Lois Weber, American film director who became the first American woman to direct a full feature-length film (The Merchant of Venice) and the first to own her own studio, dies of a stomach ulcer at 60
Nov 14 Bluey, Australian cattle dog and world's oldest reliably recorded dog dies at 29 year sand 5 days [1]
Nov 16 Pierce Butler, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1866)
Nov 20 Désiré Pâque, Belgian organist, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 72
Nov 25 Wilfred Trotter, English surgeon who was a pioneer in neurosurgery, popularized the concept of herd instinct, and was an authority in cancers of the head and neck, dies at 67

James Naismith (1861-1939)

Nov 28 Canadian-American physical educator and inventor (basketball, football helmet), dies at 78

Nov 29 Philipp Scheidemann, German politician (SPD) and Mayor of Kassel, dies at 74
Dec 1 Max Fiedler, German composer, dies at 79
Dec 8 Ernest Schelling, American child piano prodigy, conductor, and composer (A Victory Ball), dies of a cerebral embolism at 63
Dec 10 Wilhelm Grosz, Austrian pianist, conductor, classical composer (Afrika Songs), and popular songwriter ("Red Sails in the Sunset"; "Isle of Capri"), dies at 45 [1]

Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939)

Dec 12 American actor (The Mark of Zorro, 3 Musketeers, Robin Hood), dies from a heart attack at 56

Dec 15 Tom McKibbin, Australian cricket spin bowler (5 Tests, 17 wickets; NSW CA), dies at 69
Dec 18 Heywood Broun, American journalist (1st President of American Newspaper Guild), dies of pneumonia at 51
Dec 19 Eric Fogg, English composer, dies under a train at 36
Dec 19 Karl Wagenfeld, Low German writer (Lucifer, Death & Devil), dies at 70
Dec 19 Willem Benoy, Flemish actor and director (The White), dies at 57
Dec 20 Hans Langsdorff, German Kriegsmarine (navy) captain commits suicide after scuttling his ship, the 'Admiral Graf Spee,' due to damage from the Battle of the River Plat (near Argentina)
Dec 22 Ma Rainey [Gertrude Pridgett], American singer "Mother of the Blues", dies at 53