List of Famous people who died at 40

Diana Turbay Quintero was a Colombian journalist kidnapped by the Medellín Cartel and killed by the Colombia National Police during a botched rescue attempt. Her story has been portrayed in a non-fiction book by Gabriel García Márquez and onscreen.

Jacqueline Saburido was a Venezuelan activist and burn survivor who campaigned against drunk driving. After a car crash in 1999 Saburido received burns on 60% of her body; she went on to appear in drunk-driving ads and was twice a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She also unsuccessfully tried to become Britain's first face transplant patient.

Sean Clinch Stephenson was an American therapist, self-help author and motivational speaker. Because he was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, Stephenson stood three feet tall, had fragile bones, and used a wheelchair.

José Antonio Torresola Ruiz better known as Frankie Ruiz was an American salsa singer and songwriter. He was a major figure in the salsa romántica subgenre that was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. During his youth, he developed a passion for percussion, later confessing that this would have been his second choice after singing. While still in his 30s, he became known as El Papá de la Salsa.

Nadia Toffa was an Italian journalist and television presenter for satirical current affairs programme Le Iene who gained attention in 2017 for a series of stories about the environmental impacts of alleged nuclear testing at the Gran Sasso Laboratory.

April Jace was an American masters track and field athlete who ran in sprinting competitions. She was the 2011 world champion in the women's over-35 4 × 100 meters relay.

Brandon Anthony Micah Bernard was an American man convicted for the 1999 robbery, kidnapping, and murder of Todd and Stacie Bagley. He was sentenced to death for the murders and remained on death row until his execution in December 2020.

Konstantīns Konstantinovs was a Latvian Russian powerlifter. His raw deadlift of 426 kg (939.2 lb), set in 2009, was formerly the heaviest raw deadlift, and is still the world record for the 140 kg (308 lb) weight class, and remains unbeaten to this day.

Terrance Gordon Sawchuk was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. He won the Calder Trophy, earned the Vezina Trophy in four different seasons, was a four-time Stanley Cup champion, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame the year after his final season, one of only ten players ever for whom the three year waiting period was waived.

Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright, stage director and lyricist. He collaborated with composer Alan Menken on several works and is most widely known for his work on feature films for Walt Disney Animation Studios, for which Ashman wrote the lyrics and Menken composed the music. Ashman and Menken began their collaboration with the musical God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1979), for which Ashman directed and wrote both book and lyrics. Their next musical, Little Shop of Horrors (1982), for which Ashman again directed and wrote both book and lyrics, became a long-running success and led to a 1986 feature film. At Disney, the duo worked on the films The Little Mermaid (1989), which began what is considered to be the "Disney Renaissance", and Beauty and the Beast (1991). After his death, some of Ashman's songs were included in another Disney film, Aladdin (1992).