- Oct 3 Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (Der Evangelimann - The Evangelist; Der Kuhreigen), dies at 84
- Oct 5 Louis Brandeis, American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (1916-39), dies at 84
- Oct 8 Gustav "Gus" Kahn, German-American lyricist ("It Had to Be You"; "Makin' Whoopee"; "I'll See You in My Dreams"), dies of a heart attack at 54
- Oct 9 Helen Morgan, American stage and screen actress, and singer (Show Boat), dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 41
- Oct 12 Harry Micajah Daugherty, American politician, lawyer and political manager accused of corruption, dies at 81
- Oct 13 GJ Berenschot, Dutch Army General and Supreme Commander of Dutch East Indies army, dies
- Oct 17 John S Plaskett, Canadian astronomer (Plaskett's twins), dies
- Oct 18 Dirk Fock, Dutch politician and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1921-26), dies at 83
- Oct 18 Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese politician and writer (7th President of Portugal 1923-25), dies at 81
- Oct 20 Ken Farnes, English cricket fast bowler (15 Tests, 60 wickets, BB 6/96; Essex CCC, Cambridge University CC), dies in a plane crash during a WWII night-flying exercise at 30
- Oct 25 Robert Delaunay, French artist, dies at 56
- Oct 26 Arkady Gaidar, Russian Soviet children's writer, killed in combat at 37
- Oct 26 Victor Schertzinger, American composer and director (Uptown NY), dies at 53
- Oct 27 Ernest Everett Just, African-American embryologist (physiology of development, fertilization, cell division), dies of pancreatic cancer at 58
- Oct 29 Harvey Hendrick, American baseball player (b. 1897)
- Oct 30 (Leon) "Chu" Berry, American swing jazz tenor saxophonist (Fletcher Henderson; Cab Calloway), dies in a car accident at 33
- Oct 31 Herwarth Walden, German art writer and critic, dies in a Soviet prison at 63
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide