- Oct 4 Henrietta Lacks [Loretta Pleasant], African-American tobacco farmer whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, extensively used in medical research since the 1950s (1st immortalised cell line), dies of cervical cancer at 31
- Oct 4 Willie Moretti, American gangster (b. 1894)
- Oct 6 Henry Gurney, British high commissioner to Malaya, assassinated
- Oct 6 Otto Meyerhof, German psychologist and biochemist (Nobel 1922), dies at 67
Will Keith Kellogg (1860-1951)
Oct 6 American cereal manufacturer (Kellogg's cereal brand), dies at 91
- Oct 7 Anton Philips, Co-Founder of Royal Philips Electronics N.V., dies at 77
- Oct 12 Leon Errol, Australian actor (Ziegfeld Follies, What a Blonde!), dies at 70
- Oct 12 Simon Kimbangu/Kibangu, Congolese religious leader and founder of Kimbanguism, dies in captivity at 62
- Oct 13 Willie Quaife, English cricket batsman (7 Tests, 1 x 50; Sussex CCC, Warwickshire CCC), dies at 79
- Oct 16 Liaquat Ali Khan, 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan (1947-51), assassinated by Said Akbar at 56
- Oct 23 Charlie Creath, American jazz trumpeter, saxophonist, accordionist, and bandleader, dies at 60
- Oct 25 Amélie of Orléans, Queen of Portugal, wife of Carlos I, dies at 86
- Oct 29 Jean De Raymond, French High Director of Cambodia, assassinated by a Viet-Minh agent (b. 1907)
- Oct 29 Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer (New General Catalogue), dies at 86
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide