- Jan 1 Charles Turner, Australian cricket fast bowler (17 Tests; 101 wickets @ 16.53; fastest to 50 Test wickets), dies at 81
- Jan 1 Edwin Lutyens, English architect (Viceroy's House, New Delhi), dies at 74
- Jan 3 Jurgis BaltruĊĦaitis, Lithuanian poet (b. 1873)
- Jan 4 Henri "Hans" Flu, Indonesian/Dutch family doctor/antifascist, murder
- Jan 4 Kaj Munk [Harald Leininger], anti-fascist writer (Kaj Munk), dies
- Jan 5 Adolph Goldschmidt, German/Swiss art historian, dies at 80
- Jan 6 Ida Tarbell, American muckraker (The History of the Standard Oil Company), dies at 86
- Jan 7 J Verleun, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
- Jan 7 Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek poet, dies at 56
- Jan 7 Lou Henry Hoover, US First Lady (1929-33) and wife of the 31st President, Herbert Hoover, dies at 69
- Jan 7 George Mullin, American baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers; no-hitter 1912), dies at 63
- Jan 8 William Kissam Vanderbilt II, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1878)
- Jan 11 Galeazzo count of Cortellazzo Ciano, Italian politician, dies
- Jan 12 Lance C. Wade, American pilot (b. 1915)
- Jan 12 Juliette Atkinson, American tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1895, 97-98), dies at 70
- Jan 14 Mohammed Emin Yurdakul, Turkish poet, dies at about 74
- Jan 19 Harold Fraser-Simson, composer, dies at 71
- Jan 20 James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist, dies at 83
- Jan 21 Gustaaf DFL Schamelhout, Flemish physician/writer, dies at 74
- Jan 21 Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, German major and pilot, shot down
Edvard Munch
Jan 23 Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (The Scream), dies at 80, bequeathing all of his work to the city of Oslo
Edvard Munch