American author (b. 1897) January 16 – Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, 1st Baronet, British surgeon (b. 1856) January 17 Jane Avril, French dancer (b. 1868) Taj al-Din al-Hasani, Syrian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Syria and 6th President of Syria (b. 1885) January 18 – Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen, Norwegian admiral and industry leader (b. 1857) January 19 – William Pettigrew, British Christian missionary (b. 1869) January 20 Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer (b. 1885) Baron Max Wladimir von Beck, former Minister-President of Austria (b. 1854) January 21 Aimo Cajander, 7th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1879) Konstantinos Davakis, Greek army officer (died of wounds) (b. 1897) Robert Henry English, American admiral (killed in aviation accident) (b. 1888) January 22 – Gyula Peidl, 23rd Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1873) January 23 – Alexander Woollcott, American critic (b. 1887) January 26 Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880) Nikolai Vavilov, Russian, Soviet botanist, geneticist (b. 1887) January 29 Henriette Caillaux, French murderer, socialite and wife of former French prime minister (b. 1874) Vladimir Kokovtsov, 4th Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire (b. 1853) February February 1 – Foy Draper, American Olympic athlete (killed in action) (b. 1911) February 2 Alfred Cavendish, British general (b. 1859) Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (b. 1880) February 4 Frank Calder, British-born Canadian ice hockey executive, first National Hockey League president (b. 1877) Senjūrō Hayashi, Japanese army commander, politician and 22nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1876) February 5 Sim Gokkes, Dutch composer (in Auschwitz concentration camp) (b. 1897) W. S. Van Dyke, American director (b. 1889) February 9 Eustace Fiennes, British soldier, politician (b. 1864) Dmitry Kardovsky, Soviet painter, illustrator (b. 1866) February 10 Sverre Granlund, Norwegian general (b. 1918) James T. Powers, American actor (b. 1862) February 11 – Bess Houdini, American wife of Harry Houdini (b. 1876) February 14 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862) February 15 – Charles Bennett, American actor (b. 1889) February 16 – Paul Ranous Greever, American politician (b. 1891) February 18 – Sir Reginald Pinney, British army general (b. 1863) February 19 – Jan Piekałkiewicz, Polish economist, statistician and politician (b. 1892) February 20 Ernest Guglielminetti, Swiss physician (b. 1862) Donald Haines, American actor (b. 1919) February 22 Tamara Drasin, Russian-born American singer, actress (b. 1905) Christoph Probst, German White Rose resistance member (executed) (b. 1919) Ben Robertson, American novelist, journalist and war