- Feb 1 Blaze Foley [Michael Fuller], American outlaw country singer-songwriter (Wanted More Dead Than Alive), shot to death by a family friend at 39
- Feb 1 Elaine de Kooning, American artist, dies at 70
- Feb 2 Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater (Olympic gold men's singles 1972; World C'ships gold 1971, 72, 73), dies from cancer of the lymph nodes at 38
- Feb 3 Glenna Collett-Vare, American golfer (6-time US Amateur champion), dies at 85
- Feb 3 John Cassavetes, Greek-American actor, film director, and screenwriter (Dirty Dozen, Rosemary's Baby), dies at 59
- Feb 4 (Kenneth) "Jethro" Burns, American country singer, and mandolin player (Homer & Jethro -"The Battle of Kookamonga"), dies from prostate cancer at 69
- Feb 4 Trevor Lucas, Australian folk singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Fairport Convention), dies of a heart attack at 45
- Feb 5 Joe Raposa, American composer and songwriter (Sesame Street), dies at 51
- Feb 6 Andre Cayatte, French filmmaker, dies at 80
- Feb 6 Barbara Tuchman, American historian (Guns of August-Pulitzer), dies at 77
- Feb 6 Chris Gueffroy, East German attempted defector (b. 1968)
- Feb 6 King Tubby [Osbourne Ruddock], Jamaican sound engineer and record producer, shot to death outside his home at 48
- Feb 6 Nuno Oliveira, Portuguese equestrian, horse trainer, dressage instructor, author ('baroque' or 'classical' style), dies at 63
- Feb 7 Gilbert Simondon, French philosopher (On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects), dies at 64
- Feb 8 Maurits Mok, Dutch author and poet (Cheese & Bread Game; The Railroad Strike), dies at 81
Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989)
Feb 9 Japanese 'the godfather of manga' (Kimba the White Lion), dies of cancer at 60
- Feb 10 Dan Kelly, Canadian-born NHL sportscaster ("He shoots, he scores!"), dies of cancer at 52,
- Feb 11 George O'Hanlon, American actor (Life of Riley - "Calvin"' Joe McDoakes shorts), voice actor (The Jetsons - "George Jetson"), and screenwriter, dies after a stroke at 76
- Feb 11 Leon Festinger, American psychologist who developed the theory of cognitive dissonance, dies of cancer at 69
- Feb 12 Mauritius Balfoort, French-Belgian director, dies at 83
- Feb 12 Thomas Bernhard, Austrian novelist, playwright and poet whose work some describe as "the most significant literary achievement since World War II", dies at 58
- Feb 13 Wayne Hays, American politician (b. 1911)
- Feb 14 James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
- Feb 14 Vincent Crane [Cheesman], British rock Hammond organist, and songwriter (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - "Fire"), dies of deliberate painkiller overdose at 45
- Feb 17 Lefty Gomez, American Baseball HOF pitcher (7 × MLB All-Star; 5 × World Series; Triple Crown 1934, 37; NY Yankees), dies of congestive heart failure at 80
- Feb 19 Jaap van de Merwe, Dutch journalist/cabareter (Hadjememaar), dies
- Feb 21 Alex Thépot, French footballer (b. 1906)
- Feb 21 Otar Vasilisdze Taktakishvili, Georgian composer, conductor, teacher, and musicologist, dies at 64
- Feb 22 Joan Woodbury, American actress (Super Sleuth, Northwest Trail), dies at 73
- Feb 22 Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader, dies at 50
- Feb 23 Hans Hellmut Kirst, German author (The Lieutenant Must Be Mad), dies at 74
- Feb 26 Melvin Moore, American jazz trumpeter, and singer, dies at 65
- Feb 26 Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player, dies at 78
- Feb 27 Conrad Lorenz, Austria zoologist (Nobel 1973), dies
- Feb 27 Joseph "Joe" Silver, American actor (Lenny, Mr I Magination), dies of liver cancer at 66
- Feb 27 Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist and ethologist (Man & His Ideas, Nobel Prize 1973), dies at 85
- Feb 27 Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer, dies at 91
- Feb 28 Hermann Burger, Swiss poet and writer, dies at 46
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide