- Oct 1 Sven Tumba, Swedish ice hockey center, football winger, golfer, golf course designer, dies of a hip infection at 80
- Oct 1 Johnny Schmitz, American baseball pitcher (MLB All-Star 1946, 48; NL saves leader 1946), dies at 90
- Oct 9 Pavel Karelin, Russian ski jumper (b. 1989)
- Oct 15 Elizabeth "Betty" Driver, British singer and actress (Coronation Street, Pardon the Expression), dies from pneumonia at 91
- Oct 16 Dan Wheldon, English auto racer (b. 1978)
- Oct 23 Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (250cc World Championship 2008), dies in a track accident at 24
- Oct 31 Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer (European Footballer of the Year 1967), dies at 70