- Jan 1 Hagood Hardy, American-Canadian jazz and easy listening pianist, vibraphonist and film score composer ("The Homecoming"), dies from lymphoma at 59
- Jan 1 James B. Pritchard, American theologist & archaeologist, dies at 87
- Jan 1 Joan Rice, British actress (His Majesty O'Keefe, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men), dies at 66
- Jan 1 John Burgess, English rugby coach and administrator (England coach 1971-75; RFU President 1987-88), dies at 71
- Jan 1 Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter ("Pancho and Lefty"), dies of a heart attack at 52
- Jan 2 Randy California, American rock guitarist, dies at 45
- Jan 3 Burton Lane, American film and stage composer and lyricist (Finian's Rainbow), dies at 84
- Jan 3 Cornelius Kee, Dutch organist and composer, dies at 96
- Jan 3 David Kraehenbuehl, American composer (March of the Trolls), pianist, teacher (Yale), and music theorist (Journal of Music Theory), dies of a heart attack at 73
- Jan 3 Roger Goeb, American composer, dies at 82
- Jan 4 Harry B Helmsley, American billionaire real estate developer (purchased Empire State Building, 1961), dies at 87
- Jan 5 Andre Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston), dies at 73
- Jan 6 Catherine Scorsese [Cappa], Italian-American actress (The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 84
- Jan 6 Ian Peter Leslie Smith, British journalist, dies at 52
- Jan 6 Litz Pisk, British movement teacher in the theater, dies at 87
- Jan 6 Vince Williams, American actor (Hampton in "Guiding Light"), dies of cancer at 39
- Jan 7 Desmond Flower, English publisher, dies at 89
- Jan 7 Sándor Végh, Hungarian-French violinist teacher and conductor, dies at 84
- Jan 8 Carole Carr [Carless], British singer and actress (Down Among the Z Men), dies of cancer at 68
- Jan 8 George Handy [Hendleman], American bebop jazz arranger, pianist and composer Handyland, U.S.A.), dies at 76
- Jan 8 Jesse White [Weidenfeld], American character actor (Bedtime for Bonzo; Harvey; Maytag repairman, 1967-88), dies of a heart attack at 80
Melvin Calvin (1911-1997)
Jan 8 American biochemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1961 - for discovery of chemical pathways of photosynthesis), dies at 85 [1]
- Jan 8 Phyllis Hartnoll, writer/editor, dies at 90
- Jan 9 Edward Osobka-Morawski, prime minister of Poland (1945-47), dies
- Jan 9 Junaidu ibn Buhari, scholar, dies at 90
- Jan 10 Alexander R. Todd, British chemist (Nobel Prize 1957), dies at 89
- Jan 10 Alvinio Misciano, Italian tenor, killed in a fall from a window
- Jan 10 Darrell A. Amyx, American classical archaeologist (Greek Ceramics), dies at 85
- Jan 10 Elspeth Huxley, English author (The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard), dies at 89
- Jan 10 George Young, Scottish soccer defender (54 caps; Rangers 293 games), dies at 74
- Jan 10 Hilary Grover Barratt Brown, British conservationist and for the WWF, dies at 71
- Jan 10 Shiv Verma, Indian revolutionary soldier, dies at 88
- Jan 11 Cavan O'Connor, British singer ("I'm Only a Strolling Vagabond"), dies at 97
- Jan 11 Duncan Wood, English TV director and producer (Hancock's Half Hour, Steptoe & Son), dies at 71
- Jan 11 Helen Foster Snow, American journalist (reported from China in the 1930s), dies at 89
- Jan 11 Sheldon Leonard, American actor, producer and director (Danny Thomas Show, Big Eddie), dies at 89
- Jan 12 Charles Huggins, American-Canadian physician and cancer researcher (1966 Nobel Prize), dies at 95
- Jan 12 Jean Writer-Edern Hallier, dies at 60
- Jan 12 Jill Summers, actress (Agatha Coronation Street), dies at 86
- Jan 13 William Mills, English painter, dies at 74
- Jan 14 Dollard Ménard, French Canadian general (b. 1913)
- Jan 14 King Hu, Chinese film director, (wuxia films), dies at 64
- Jan 15 Jose Ignacio Domecq, Spanish wine maker, dies at 82
- Jan 15 Kenneth Thimann, English American botanist (Balzan Prize), dies at 92
- Jan 16 Charlie Alfred Galbraith, English jazz trombonist, dies at 76
- Jan 16 Ennis Cosby, son of Bill Cosby, murdered on Los Angeles highway at 29
- Jan 16 Jim Kensil, American NFL executive (New York Jets president), dies of heart failure at 66
- Jan 16 Stephen Fitz-Simon, British fashion retailer and entrepreneur (Biba), dies at 59
- Jan 17 Amha Selassie, Crown prince of Ethiopia and son of emperor Haile Selassi, dies at 82
- Jan 17 Andrea Fisher, American artist, dies at 41
- Jan 17 Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
- Jan 17 Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (discovered Pluto), dies at 90
- Jan 18 Myfanwy Piper, British librettist and art critic, dies at 85
- Jan 18 Neville Crump, British racehorse trainer (Grand National 1948, 52, 60), dies at 86 [1]
- Jan 18 Paul Tsongas, American politician (Sen-D-Mass), dies of complications from pneumonia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 55
- Jan 19 Adriana Caselotti, voice of Snow White in Disney's animated film, dies at 70
- Jan 19 James Dickey, American poet, novelist and lecturer (Deliverance, Buckdancer's Choice), dies at 73
Curt Flood (1938-1997)
Jan 20 American baseball player (St Louis Cards), dies of throat cancer at 59
- Jan 20 Edith Haisman, the oldest survivor of Titanic, dies at 100
- Jan 20 Vladimir Yamnikov, owner (Kristall vodka), dies of cirrhosis at 56
- Jan 21 Colonel Tom Parker [Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk], Dutch-born talent manager (Elvis Presley), dies after suffering a stroke at 87
- Jan 21 Dennis Main-Wilson, British TV and radio producer (Marty, Till Death Us Do Part), dies of lung cancer at 72
- Jan 21 Michael Duane, British progressive educationalist and author, dies at 81
- Jan 22 Billy MacKenzie, Scottish rock vocalist (The Associates-Affectionate Punch), committed suicide at 39
- Jan 22 Ian Munro, British medical journalist, humanitarian and cricketer, dies at 73
- Jan 22 Irwin Levine, composer (Tie a Yellow Ribbon), dies at 58
- Jan 22 Mollie Panter-Downes, British writer and columnist (The Shoreless Sea), dies at 90
- Jan 22 Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican historian and political activist, dies at 98
- Jan 22 Ron Holden, American singer (b. 1939)
- Jan 22 Wally Whyton, English musician and broadcaster (BBC 2), dies at 66
- Jan 23 Audie Pitre, American bass guitarist (Acid Bath), killed by a drunk driver at 26
- Jan 23 Charles Craig, English opera singer, dies at 77
- Jan 23 Jeremy Maas, British writer and art dealer, dies at 68
- Jan 23 Laura "Dinky" Patterson, dies bungee jumping at Super Bowl rehearsal at 43
- Jan 23 Randy Greenawalt, American convicted killer, executed by injection at 47
- Jan 23 Richard Berry, African-American singer and musician (Louie Louie), dies at 61
- Jan 23 Roger John Tayler, British astrophysicist (author of The Origin of the Chemical Elements), dies at 67
- Jan 24 Callum Alexander MacDonald, Scottish historian, dies of cancer at 49
- Jan 25 Jeane Dixon [Lydia Pinckert], American celebrity psychic and astrologer (A Gift of Prophecy), dies of a heart attack at 93
- Jan 25 Jim Boyd, American boxer (Olympic gold light-heavyweight, 1956), dies at 66
- Jan 25 Seldon Powell, American jazz tenor saxophonist and flautist, dies at 68
- Jan 26 Margaret, Princess of Hesse and by Rhine (née Geddes), and patron of the arts, dies at 83
- Jan 27 Cecil Arthur Lewis, British fighter pilot and writer, dies at 98
- Jan 27 David Townsend, English cricket batsman (3 Tests, HS 36; Durham CCC), dies at 84
- Jan 27 Gerald Marks, American songwriter ("All of Me"), dies at 96
- Jan 28 Colin Welch, British political journalist and critic of Enid Blyton's Noddy series, dies at 72
- Jan 28 Pietro Cavallero 'the laughing bandit', Italian bandit, dies at 68
- Jan 29 Eric Schneider, American murderer of 2 teachers, executed in MO at 35
- Jan 29 Louis Pauwels, French writer and editor, dies at 76
- Jan 29 Osvaldo Soriano, Argentine writer and journalist, dies of cancer at 54
- Jan 30 Frank Tejeda, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas), dies at 51
- Jan 30 Héctor Campos Parsi, Puerto Rican classical music composer, dies at 75
- Jan 31 Eve Lister, British film and television actress (No Limit, Hyde Park), dies at 84
- Jan 31 John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning