- Mar 1 Charlie Spivak, Ukrainian-American big band trumpeter and bandleader, dies at 75
- Mar 2 Philip K. Dick, American Sci-fi author (Hugo-1963; Dr Futurity), dies after a series of strokes at 53
- Mar 3 Georges Perec, French writer (La Vie mode d'emploi (Life A User's Manual)), and filmmaker (Seire Noire), dies of lung cancer at 45
- Mar 5 Clifford P. Case, American lawyer and politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey, dies at 77
John Belushi (1949-1982)
Mar 5 American comedian (SNL, 1975-80), actor (Animal House), and singer (The Blues Brothers), dies of a drug overdose at 33
- Mar 6 Ayn Rand [Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum], Russian-American author, screenwriter and philosopher who developed the philosophical system of "Objectivism" (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead), dies of heart failure at 77
- Mar 6 Jan Lemaire, Dutch writer and actor (Village by the River, Beautiful Juliet), dies at 97
- Mar 7 Charles Borromeo Mills, American composer, dies at 68
- Mar 9 Alan Badel, British actor (Shogun, Salome, Bill Brand), dies of a heart attack at 58
- Mar 9 Rab Butler, British politician and minister who favoured appeasement, dies at 79
- Mar 9 Rex Marshall, American TV announcer (Circuit Rider, Herman Hickman Show), dies from a heart attack at 64
- Mar 10 Minoru Shirota, Japanese microbiologist and founder of the Yakult Honsha beverage company, dies at 82
- Mar 11 Edmund Cooper, British sci-fi writer (Tomorrow Came), dies at 55
- Mar 11 Horace Gregory, American poet, dies at 83
- Mar 12 Elisabeth Zernike, Dutch writer (Course of Events), dies at 90
- Mar 13 Albert Weisser, American musicologist and composer, dies at 64
- Mar 13 Wilfred Hawker, Suriname sgt-major, executed
- Mar 14 Kirill Molchanov, Russian-Soviet composer, dies at 59
- Mar 17 Hans ter Laag, Dutch sound technician, murdered in El Salvador
- Mar 17 Jan Kuiper, Dutch news editor (IKON), murdered in El Salvador
- Mar 17 Joop Willemsen, Dutch cameraman, murdered in El Salvador
- Mar 17 Koos Koster, Dutch newscaster (IKON), murdered in El Salvador
- Mar 18 George Lampe, Dutch painter and director (Free Academy), dies at 60
- Mar 19 Randy Rhoads, American heavy metal guitarist (Quiet Riot), dies in an air crash at 25
- Mar 20 Hendrik L van Beek, Dutch vice-admiral, dies at 52
- Mar 21 Harry H Corbett, British actor (Steptoe & Son, Jabberwacky), dies at 57
- Mar 21 King Pleasure [Clarence Beeks], American jazz singer and bebop vocalese master, dies at 59
- Mar 23 Mario Praz, Italian literary critic and scholar (Casa della vita), dies at 85
- Mar 24 Goodman Ace, American writer, radio presenter, actor and humorist (Better of Goodman), dies at 83
- Mar 25 Hugo Huppert, Austrian writer and poet, dies at 79
- Mar 26 Agathe Henriette Trip-de Beaufort, Dutch writer (Dolly of Arnhem), dies at 91
- Mar 27 Bob Ysaguirre, American jazz double bass and tuba player (Don Redman Orchestra), dies at 85
- Mar 27 Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect (Sears Tower, Chicago; John Hancock Center, Chicago; Metrodome, Minneapolis), dies of a heart attack at 52
- Mar 28 William Giauque, Canadian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
- Mar 29 "Fatty" George [Pressler], Austrian swing jazz clarinettist, dies of a heart attack at 54
- Mar 29 Carl Orff, German composer (Carmina Burana; Der Mond; Mozart Prize - 1969), dies of cancer at 86
- Mar 29 Floyd "Guitar" Smith, American jazz and blues guitarist and record producer, dies at 65
- Mar 29 Helene Deutsch [Rosenbach], Polish-American psychoanalyst, dies at 97
- Mar 29 Nathan Farragut Twining, U.S. Air Force general, dies at 84
- Mar 29 Ray Block, French orchestra leader (Ed Sullivan; Jackie Gleason), dies at 79
- Mar 29 Rudy Bond, American stage and screen actor (A Streetcar Named Desire), dies of a heart attack at 69
- Mar 29 Walter Hallstein, West German politician (CDU, H-doctrine, 1st President of the EU 1958-67)), dies at 80
- Mar 31 Fritz Eberhard, [Helmut von Rauschenplat], German journalist, anti-fascist war resistor, and co-signer of modern constitution, dies at 85
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning