David Ben-Gurion
Dec 1 David Ben-Gurion, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (1948-53, 1955-63), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 87
Robert Watson-Watt
Dec 5 Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish physicist and developer of the radar and radio direction finding in WWII, dies at 81
- Dec 6 Justus Hermann Wetzel, composer, dies at 94
- Dec 10 Earle Foxe, actor (Dance Fools Dance), dies at 81
- Dec 13 Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
- Dec 14 Yitzhak Edel, Israeli composer, dies at 77
- Dec 15 Orest Alexandrovich Evlahkov, Russian composer, dies at 61
- Dec 16 Sid Barnes, Australian cricket batsmen (13 Tests, 3 x 100, 5 x 50, HS 234; NSWCA), dies of barbiturate and bromide poisoning at 57
- Dec 17 Charles Greeley Abbot, American astronomer (Solar Constant), dies at 101
- Dec 17 Patrick Hadley, composer, dies at 74
- Dec 18 Julio César Brero [or Giulio Cesare], Italian-born Argentine composer (Novella), and lawyer, dies at 64
- Dec 18 Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher, dies at 65
- Dec 20 Bobby Darin [Walden Robert Cassotto], American singer ("Mack the Knife"; "Splish-Splash"; "Beyond the Sea"), and actor, dies of a heart attack at 37
- Dec 20 Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (1973), assassinated by ETA
- Dec 22 Domingo Julio Gomez Garcia, composer, dies at 87
- Dec 22 James Anderson, Australian tennis player (Australasian C'ship 1922, 24, 25), dies at 79
- Dec 23 Irna Phillips, American scriptwriter who created 6 soap operas (Guiding Light), dies at 72
- Dec 23 Arthur Richardson, Australian cricketer (9 Tests 1924-26), dies at 85
- Dec 23 Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-American astronomer after whom the Kuiper belt is named, dies at 68
- Dec 24 Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian Social social activist and reformer, dies at 94
- Dec 25 İsmet İnönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
- Dec 25 Gabriel Voisin, French aviation pioneer (b. 1880)
- Dec 26 Harold B. Lee, American religious leader, Head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 74
- Dec 26 Steven Geray, American actor (French Line), dies at 69
- Dec 26 William Haines, American actor (Little Annie Rooney), dies of cancer at 73
- Dec 30 Henri-Paul Busser, composer, dies at 101