See also: other events of 2001, Deaths in 2002 and Recent deaths.

December 2001

• 30 Eileen Heckart, US actor, Oscar winner
• 15 Rufus Thomas, R&B/soul singer (b. 1917)
• 8 Don Tennant, US advertising executive, invented Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's and the Marlboro Man
• 5 Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand sailor and environmentalist, shot by pirates on the Amazon River.
• 5 Franco Rasetti, Italian physicist.
• 4 Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj, Sultan of Selangor and Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

November 2001

• 30 Robert Tools , first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, at age 59 after 151 days without a living heart.
• 29 John Knowles, author, "A Separate Peace"
• 29 George Harrison, 58, British musician and former member of The Beatles.
• 28 William Kienzle, author of murder mysteries with Catholic priest detective
• 24 Melanie Thornton, aged 34, singer, (plane crash near Zürich)
• 22 Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics.
• 12 Tony Miles, English chess player.
• 10 Ken Kesey, 66, American author, counter-cultural figure.

October 2001

• 15 Zhang Xueliang (aged 100), Chinese warlord and military figure. Important individual in recent Chinese history
• 12 Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone (Quintin Hogg), aged 94 -- British lawyer and politician

September 2001

• 22 Isaac Stern, 81, Ukrainian violinist.
• 13 Victor Wong , aged 74, American movie actor and artist.
• 11 - Barbara Kay Olson, 45, American conservative television commentator, died in terrorist attack on The Pentagon.
• 11 Casualties from the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack.
• 9 Ahmed Shah Massoud, Afghani Northern Alliance military commander.
• 7 Spede Pasanen, Finnish television star.
• 3 Thuy Trang, American actress
• 3 Pauline Kael, 82, American movie critic.
• 2 Christiaan Barnard, 78, South African heart surgeon, first to perform a human-to-human heart transplant.

August 2001

• 25 Aaliyah, 22, American singer and actress.
• 20 Fred Hoyle, British astronomer and science fiction writer.
• 6 Jorge Amado, 88, Brazilian writer.
• 3 Christopher Hewett, 79, British actor
• 1 Korey Stringer, 26, American football player.
• 1 Poul Anderson, American fantasy and Science Fiction author.

July 2001

• 29 Wau Holland, 49, German hacker, founder of the CCC (heart attack).
• 29 Edward Gierek, Polish politician.
• 27 Leon Wilkeson , 49, American musician, bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd.
• 18 Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer.
• 11 Herman Brood, 54, Dutch rock musician, painter and publicity freak (suicide).
• 5 Hannelore Kohl, 68, wife of ex-chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl (suicide).

June 2001

• 30 Chet Atkins, 77, American country musician
• 28 Joan Sims, 71, British actress
• 27 Jack Lemmon, 76, American actor and film director.
• 21 Carroll O'Connor, 76, American actor.
• 21 John Lee Hooker, 83, American Blues musician
• 11 Timothy McVeigh, 33, American terrorist (executed by the Government of the United States).
• 10 - Princess Leila of Iran.
• 4 Joey Maxim, world Light Heavyweight champion boxer, 79 years old
• 4 King Dipendra of Nepal.
• 3 Anthony Quinn, 86, Mexican-American actor.
• 1 King Birendra and Queen Aiswarya of Nepal.
• 1 Hank Ketcham, 81, American cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace.
• 1 Marie Brémont, Oldest Person in the World

May 2001

• 28 Francisco Varela, 54, Chilean biologist and philosopher
• 12 Perry Como, 87, American singer.
• 11 Douglas Adams, 49 (heart attack), British author, works included Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently, Doctor Who.
• 5 Cliff Hillegass , 83, American creator of Cliff Notes (stroke).
• 1? Chandra Levy, 24, intern at the Bureau of Prisons in Washington, DC. (unconfirmed).

April 2001

• 15 Joey Ramone, American musician, lead singer for The Ramones.
• 12 Harvey Ball, American inventor of the smiley
• 11 Sir Harry Secombe, 79, (heart attack), Welsh actor, comedian, member of The Goon Show.
• 10 Willie Stargell, American baseball player, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• 7 Beatrice Straight, Academy Award-winning actress (Network, Poltergeist) (b. 1914)

March 2001

• 22 William Hanna, American animator, co-founder (with Joseph Barbera) of the Hanna-Barbera animation studio.
• 22 Sabiha Gökçen, 88, the first Turkish female aviator and the first female combat pilot of the world.
• 21 Norma Macmillan, American cartoon voice actress.
• 18 John Phillips, American singer, co-founder of Popular Music group The Mamas and the Papas.
• 15 Ann Sothern,92, ( stroke), actress Former wife of the actor Robert Sterling
• 12 Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels.
• 12 Morton Downey, Jr.,(lung cancer) American television personality.
• 4 Harold Stassen, American politician.
• 4 Glenn Hughes, leather dude of the Popular Music group The Village People

February 2001

• 25 Sir Donald Bradman, 92, cricketer
• 24 Claude Elwood Shannon, mathematician.
• 19 Charles Trenet, popular French singer.
• 19 Priscilla Davis, former Fort Worth, Texas socialite.
• 19 Stanley Kramer, 87, American movie director.
• 18 Dale Earnhardt, American NASCAR race car driver.
• 18 Balthus, 92, French painter.
• 14 Alan Ross, 78, Anglo-Indian poet and editor
• 12 Kristina Söderbaum, German actress and photographer.
• 7 Dale Evans, 88, actress, singer
• 7 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American author, aviator.
• 4 Iannis Xenakis, 78, Greek-French composer.

January 2001

• 31 Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian science fiction writer.
• 30 Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor
• 23 Moy Yat, Chinese Sealmaker, Martial Artist.
• 16 Laurent-Désiré Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (assassinated; death confirmed on January 18).
• 12 Affirmed, race horse (b. 1975)
• 12 William Hewlett, American co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.
• 1 Ray Walston, actor