Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Famous People Who Died in November 1939

  • 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