- Jan 1 Charles B. Timmer, Dutch writer (Russia Black on White), dies at 83
- Jan 1 Yvonne Waegemans, Flemish author (Gnome Patjoepelke), dies at 81
- Jan 2 Renato Rascel, Italian actor (7 Hills of Rome, Secrets of Santa Vittoria), dies of heart failure at 78
- Jan 2 Irving Johnson, American sail training pioneer & adventurer, dies at 85
- Jan 3 Luke Appling, American Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop, (7-time MLB All Star; AL batting champion 1936, 43; Chicago White Sox), dies of abdominal aortic aneurysm at 83
- Jan 4 Berry Kroeger, actor (Demon Seed), dies of kidney failure at 78
- Jan 4 Harry Krimer, French actor (Napoleon, Les vagabonds magnifiques, La course du flambeau), committed suicide at 94
- Jan 4 Leo Wright, American jazz saxophone and flute player (Dizzy Gillespie;; Blues Shout; I Left My Heart In San Francisco), dies of a heart attack at 57
- Jan 4 Poon Lim, Chinese sailor who survived 133 days adrift at sea, dies at 72
- Jan 4 Richard Maibaum, American screenwriter (Goldfinger), dies at 81
- Jan 5 John Eckhardt, actor born without legs (Freaks), dies at 82
- Jan 5 Marie Madeline Sullivan, actress (Elvira Mistress of Dark), dies at 80
- Jan 5 Vasko Popa, Yugoslavia-Serbian poet (Heaven is a Side Issue), dies at 68
- Jan 6 Ada Moore, entertainer, dies of cancer at 64
- Jan 6 Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Turkish composer, dies at 83
- Jan 7 Joe Hicks, baseball coach, dies of cancer at 64
- Jan 8 Steve Clark, English rock guitarist (Def Leppard), dies at 30
- Jan 9 Chris Baay, Dutch actor (Tomorrow It Will Be Better, Klatergoud, Surprise Raid), dies at 86
- Jan 10 Dimitris Myrat, dies of cancer at 62
- Jan 11 Jason Christmas, dies of a gunshot wound during robbery in NY at 49
Carl David Anderson
Jan 11 Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate, dies at 85
Carl David Anderson
- Jan 12 Keye Luke, Chinese-American actor (Across the Pacific, Charlie Chan's No 1 Son), dies after a stroke at 86
- Jan 12 Vasco Pratolini, Italian writer (Ragazze di San Frediano), dies at 77
- Jan 14 Sallah Kharaf [Abu Iyad], co-founder (Al-Fatah), assassinated
- Jan 14 Gordon Bryant, Australian politician (b. 1914)
- Jan 16 Cladys "Jabbo" Smith, American jazz trumpet pioneer, dies at 82
- Jan 17 Olav V, King of Norway (1957-91), dies at 87
- Jan 18 Hamilton Fish III, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), dies at 102
- Jan 18 Nita Krebs, actress (The Wizard of Oz), dies of heart attack at 85
- Jan 19 Don Beddoe, actor (Bullwhip, Loophole, Texas), dies at 87
- Jan 19 Glenn Langan, American actor (Amazing Colossal Man, Margie, Jungle Heat, Rapture), dies of lymphoma at 73
- Jan 19 John Russell, American actor (Apache Uprising, Yellow Sky), dies at 70
- Jan 19 Marcel Chaput, French Canadian politician, dies at 72
- Jan 20 Bill Riordon, American tennis promotor (Jimmy Connors), dies
- Jan 20 Louis Seigner, actor (Eclipse, Special Section), dies in a fire at 87
- Jan 21 Frank Mitchell, actor (Music is Magic, Prairie Gunsmoke), dies
- Jan 22 Robert Choquette, French Canadian novelist, poet and diplomat, dies at 85
- Jan 23 Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic (b. 1912)
- Jan 24 George Gobel, comedian, dies of a heart attack at 71
- Jan 24 Lawrence Lott, American actor (Real Men, Philadelphia Experiment), dies of AIDS at 40
- Jan 24 John M. Kelly, Irish politician and academic (b. 1931)
- Jan 24 Jack Schaefer, American author (Shane), dies at 83
- Jan 25 Hoot Evers, American MLB player, dies at 69
- Jan 25 Lillian Bond, English-American actress (Air Mail, Pick-up, Blond Cheat), dies at 83
- Jan 25 Stanley Brock, American actor (UHF, Hard to Kill, Ivan-He's the Mayor), dies of heart attack at 59
- Jan 26 Johnny van Doorn, Dutch writer/poet, dies at 46
- Jan 26 Karen Young, American disco singer ("Hot Shot"), dies at 39
Red Grange
Jan 28 Harold "Red" Grange, football's galloping ghost, dies of Parkinson's disease at 87
Red Grange
John Bardeen
Jan 30 John Bardeen, American physicist, electrical engineer and co-inventor of the transistor (Nobel 1956, 1972), dies of heart disease at 82
John Bardeen
- Jan 30 Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator (b. 1907)