- Jan 2 Bob Catterall, South African cricketer (1555 runs/24 Tests for South Africa 1922-31), dies at 60
- Jan 4 Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (Academy Award, Going My Way), dies at 72
Erwin Schrödinger
Jan 4 Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist and Nobel Laureate (wave mechanics), dies at 73
- Jan 6 Regina Ullmann, Swiss poet and writer, dies at 76
- Jan 7 Clarice Baright, 1st woman admitted to American Bar Association, dies at 74
- Jan 8 Lynwood Thomas "Schoolboy" Rowe, American baseball pitcher (Detroit Tigers), dies at 50
- Jan 9 Emily Greene Balch, American writer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- Jan 10 Dashiell Hammett, American detective writer (Thin Man, Maltese Falcon), dies at 66
- Jan 11 Elena Gerhardt, German mezzo-soprano singer (b. 1883)
- Jan 13 Blanche Ring, American singer ("In The Good Old Summer Time"), and stage and screen actress, dies at 89
- Jan 14 Ernest Thesiger, English actor (Brass Monkey, Ghoul), dies at 81
- Jan 14 Henry Geehl, English composer, dies at 79
- Jan 15 Francesco Maria Saraceni, Italian composer, dies at 49
- Jan 16 Janos Viski, Hungarian composer, dies at 54
- Jan 21 John Joseph Becker, composer, dies a day before 75th birthday
- Jan 24 Willem J M van Eysinga, people rights scholar, dies at 82
Alfred Carlton Gilbert
Jan 24 Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor, and businessman (invented the Erector Set), dies at 76
