- Jan 2 Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author, dies at 91
- Jan 2 Shepard Menken, American voice & character actor (The Wild Wild West), dies at 77
- Jan 3 Jerry Quarry, American boxer (famous bouts v world champions Floyd Patterson, Jimmy Ellis, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Ken Norton), dies of chronic traumatic encephalopathy at 53
- Jan 4 Allen Sapp, American composer (Imaginary Creatures), and pedagogue, dies of heart failure at 76
- Jan 4 Iron Eyes Cody [Espera Oscar de Corti], Italian-American actor (Keep America Beautiful, Black Gold, Ernest Goes to Camp), dies at 91
- Jan 4 Maqsood Ahmed, Pakistani cricket all-rounder who played 16 tests (2 x 50, 3 wickets; Karachi Blues, Rawalpindi) and broadcaster (PTV, BBC, Radio Pakistan), dies at 73
- Jan 6 Michel Petrucciani, French jazz pianist (100 Hearts), dies from a pulmonary infection at 36
Jim Peters (1918-1999)
Jan 9 English long-distance runner who was 1st to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes, dies at 80
- Jan 10 (Elbert) "Sonny" Forriest, American guitarist (The Coasters; Ray Charles; Hank Crawford), dies at 64
- Jan 10 Frank Parker, American singer (Arthur Godfrey Show, Masquerade Party), dies at 95
- Jan 10 John Hervey, 7th marquess of Bristol, English flamboyant peer who lost his fortune to drug addiction, dies at 44
- Jan 10 Primož Ramovš, Slovenian avant-garde composer (Za Harmoniko; Tryptychon), pedagogue, and library director (Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1945-87), dies at 77
- Jan 10 Sir Edward Williams, Australian judge (b. 1921)
- Jan 11 Brian Moore, Irish novelist (Catholics, Doctor's Wife), dies at 77
- Jan 11 Fabrizio de André, Italian singer-songwriter (Storia di un impiegato), dies of lung cancer at 58
- Jan 11 Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (The Corn King and the Spring Queen), dies at 101
- Jan 12 Betty Lou Gerson, American voice actress (101 Dalmatians; Cinderella), dies of a stroke at 84
- Jan 12 Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1961)
- Jan 12 Leo Cherne, American economist and commentator (All Star News), dies at 86
- Jan 14 Aldo van Eyck, Dutch architect (City Hall), dies at 80
- Jan 14 Jerzy Grotowski, Polish theatre director (b. 1933)
- Jan 14 Robin Bailey, British actor (See No Evil, I Didn't Know You Cared), dies of respiratory failure at 79
- Jan 15 Betty Box, British film producer (b. 1915)
- Jan 15 William Crosbie, Scottish artist, dies at 83
- Jan 16 Jim McClelland, Australian solicitor, politician, Minister, Royal Commissioner, judge (b. 1915)
- Jan 16 Oscar Cullmann, French-Swiss Lutheran theologist (Das Petrusproblem), dies at 96
- Jan 17 Robert Eads, American transsexual (b. 1945)
- Jan 19 Ivan Francescato, Italian rugby union footballer (b. 1967)
- Jan 20 Bill Albaugh, American pop-psychedelic rock drummer (The Lemon Pipers - "My Green Tambourine"), dies at 53
- Jan 21 Charles Brown, American blues singer and pianist ("Merry Christmas Baby"), dies at 76
- Jan 21 Jacques Chailley, French musicologist and composer, dies at 88
- Jan 21 Leslie French, British actor and singer (Death in Venice, More than a Miracle), dies at 94
- Jan 21 Susan Strasberg, American stage and screen actress (The Diary of Anne Frank; In Praise of Older Women;, Manitou), and memoirist, dies of breast cancer at 60
- Jan 22 Graham Staines, Australian missionary (b. 1941)
- Jan 22 William M. Batten, American businessman and CEO (NY Stock Exchange 1976-84), dies at 89
- Jan 23 Jay Pritzker, American entrepreneur (co-founder of Hyatt hotels), philanthropist, founder of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, dies at 76
- Jan 23 Prince Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican musician (b. 1949)
- Jan 23 Thomas C. Mann, American diplomat (U.S. Ambassador to Mexico), dies at 86
- Jan 25 Robert Shaw, American chorale conductor (Robert Shaw Chorale), dies of a stroke at 82
- Jan 25 Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany, American author and teacher, dies at 109
- Jan 25 Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (b. 1924)
- Jan 27 Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Spanish writer associated with the Generation of '36 movement, dies at 88
- Jan 28 Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
- Jan 28 Pollamani Krishnamurthy, Indian cricket wicket-keeper (5 Tests, 8 dismissals; Hyderabad), dies at 51
- Jan 28 Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (b. 1908)
- Jan 29 Lili St. Cyr [Marie Van Schaack], American dancer and strip tease performer, dies at 80
- Jan 30 (Henry) "Huntz" Hall, American radio, stage, and screen actor (Dead End Kids: The Bowery Boys; Gas Pump Girls), dies from congestive heart failure at 78
- Jan 30 Ed Herlihy, American broadcaster (b. 1909)
- Jan 31 Giant Baba [Shohei Baba], Japanese professional wrestler (All Japan Pro Wrestling), dies at 61
- Jan 31 Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning