- Dec 2 Karen Jønsson née (Pedersen), Danish jazz singer, pianist, songwriter, composer, and actress, dies of pneumonia at 33
- Dec 3 Arthur Berson, German meteorologist (Balloon flights, Amazon), dies at 83
- Dec 3 Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Swedish composer and music critic, dies at 75
Albert Kahn
Dec 8 Albert Kahn, American architect known as the "architect of Detroit", dies at 73
- Dec 11 Franz C. Schmelkes, Czech-born Chemist who discovered azochloramid (chlorazodin), a disinfectant, dies of a heart attack at 43
- Dec 11 Jochen Klepper, German writer, commits suicide at 39
- Dec 13 Eleanor Everest Freer, American composer, dies at 78
- Dec 13 Wlodimir Ledochowski, Polish-Austrian director of the Society of Jesus (b. 1866)
- Dec 14 Eduard C "Edo" Fimmen, Dutch trade union leader, dies at 61
- Dec 20 Jean Gilbert [Max Winterfeld], German composer, dies at 63
- Dec 20 Dan Ahearn, Irish-American athlete (men's triple jump WR 15.52m 1911-24), dies at 54
- Dec 21 Leendert Round, Dutch sculptor (Giraffen, Blijdorp), dies at 63
- Dec 22 Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (Mind of Primitive Man), dies 84
- Dec 24 Friedrich Klose, German-Swiss composer (König Elf), dies at 80
François Darlan
Dec 24 François Darlan, French Admiral of the Fleet during WWII and Vichy Prime Minister (1941-42), assassinated at 61 in his headquarters in French North Africa by resistance fighter Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle
- Dec 24 K Balmont, writer, dies at 75
- Dec 25 Vojislav Vuckovic, composer, dies at 32
- Dec 26 Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, French resistance fighter and assassin of Admiral of the Fleet and Vichy Prime Minister François Darlan, executed by firing squad at 20
- Dec 26 Chris 'Red' Cagle, College Football Hall of Fame halfback (All American 1927, 28, 29; Army; NFL: New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers), dies of a fractured skull from a fall at 37
- Dec 27 William Morgan, American physical education instructor and inventor of "mintonette" (now known as volleyball), dies at 72
- Dec 28 Alfred Flatow, German gymnast (Olympic gold 1896), dies at 73
- Dec 29 Frank Dawson Adams, Canadian geologist, dies at 83
- Dec 30 Neville Henderson, British diplomat and Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Nazi Germany (1937-39), dies at 60