- Oct 2 Gerald Strang, American classical and electronic music composer, dies at 75
- Oct 3 John K. M. McCaffery, American TV host (One Minute Please), dies at 69
- Oct 3 Kurt Kusenberg, German writer (Wein Auf Lebenszeit), dies at 79
- Oct 5 Earl Tupper, American-born Costa Rican inventor and businessman (Tupperware), dies of a heart attack at 76
- Oct 5 Humberto Mauro, Brazilian film director (Ganga Bruta), dies at 86
- Oct 6 Terence Cooke, American Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of New York, dies of leukemia at 62
- Oct 8 Joan Hackett, American stage and screen actress (Will Penny; Only When I Laugh; Mourning Becomes Electra), dies of cancer at 49
- Oct 9 Suh Seok-jun, South Korea Deputy Prime Minister, killed (one of 21 victims) in Rangoon bombing at about 45
Ralph Richardson (1902-1983)
Oct 10 English actor (Anna Karenina, Doctor Zhivago), dies of a stroke at 80
- Oct 12 Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (ring name "The Grand Wizard of Wrestling"), dies at 57
- Oct 12 Jiří Lederer, Czech journalist and anti-communist dissident (Prague Spring), dies at 61
- Oct 14 Paul Fix, American actor (Rifleman), dies of kidney failure at 82
- Oct 14 Willard Price, Canadian author and naturalist
- Oct 15 Pat O'Brien, American actor (Knute Rockne; Angels with Dirty Faces), dies of a heart attack at 83
- Oct 16 George Liberace, American violinist (The Liberace Show), dies of leukemia at 72
- Oct 16 Kelso, American racehorse (b. 1957)
- Oct 16 Øivin Fjeldstad, Norwegian conductor and composer, dies at 80
- Oct 17 Pol le Roy, Flemish writer (Stroom) and WWII collaborator, dies at 78
- Oct 17 Raymond Aron, French sociologist and political scientist (The Opium of the Intellectuals), dies at 78
- Oct 18 Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish anarchist (b. 1897)
- Oct 18 Vijay Manjrekar, Indian cricket batsman (55 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 189no; Bombay, Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra), dies at 52
- Oct 18 Willie Jones, American baseball third baseman (MLB All Star 1950, 51; Philadelphia Phillies), dies from cancer at 58
- Oct 19 Carel Willink, Dutch 'imaginary realism' painter, dies at 83
- Oct 19 Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (1979-83), murdered in coup
- Oct 20 Merle Travis, American country singer, dies at 75
- Oct 20 Peter Dudley, British character actor (Coronation Street, 1979-83 - "Bert"), dies after multiple heart attacks and stokes at 48
- Oct 20 Yves Thériault, French Canadian author, dies at 67
- Oct 21 Theodorus Zwartkruis, Dutch Bishop of Haarlem, Netherlands, dies at 73
- Oct 23 Jessica Savitch, American broadcast journalist and pioneering female news anchor (NBC Weekend), drowns in a car accident at 36 [1]
- Oct 23 Tamara Shayne, Russian-American actress (Moma Yoelson-The Jolson Story), dies of a heart attack at 80
- Oct 25 Hermann Ambrosius, German composer and educator who worked with the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, dies at 86
- Oct 26 Mike Michalske, American Pro Football HOF guard (NFL C'ship 1929, 30, 31; 7 × First-team All-Pro; Green Bay Packers), dies at 80
- Oct 29 Sten Broman, Swedish composer, dies at 81
George Halas (1895-1983)
Oct 31 American Pro Football HOF coach (NFL C'ship 1921, 32, 33, 40, 41, 43, 46, 63; NFL Coach of the Year 1963, 65 Chicago Bears) and executive (owner Chicago Bears 1921-83), dies of pancreatic cancer at 88
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide