List of Famous people who died in 1940

Nae Ionescu was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in the years leading up to World War II.

Alexander Aleksandrovich Goldenweiser was a Russian-born U.S. anthropologist and sociologist.

Nikolai (Nikolay) Ivanovich Yezhov was a Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin who was head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938, during the height of the Great Purge.

Sir Francis Edmund Hugh Elliot was a British diplomat who was envoy to Greece for 14 years.

Friedrich Emil Welti was a Swiss business manager and legal historian; one of the most influential figures in the Swiss insurance industry. His father was the Federal Councilor, Emil Welti and his first wife was Lydia Escher, a major patron of the arts.

József Vészi, Hungarian writer, journalist, poet, translator, editor and deputy; born at Arad 6 November 1858, died 1940. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town, and studied philosophy, literature, and languages at Budapest. In his early youth he was a poet, and in the 1870s his lyrical productions were accepted by the best literary periodicals, while two volumes of his verses were published at Budapest in 1880 under the titles A Bánat Dalaiból and Traviata, Dalok Egy Tévedt Nőhöz. Since 1877 he devoted himself to journalism, advocating liberal views. He was for some time editor of the Budapester Tagblatt, and contributed leaders and stories to the Pester Lloyd. In 1894 he became editor-in-chief of the Pesti Napló, and in 1896 he founded the Budapesti Napló.

George Edward Marston was an English artist who twice accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on expeditions to Antarctic, first from 1907–09 on the Nimrod expedition, and then later from 1914–17 on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which ended with the crew being marooned on Elephant Island.

Princess Masako Takeda , born Masako, Princess Tsune , was the tenth child and sixth daughter of Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the third child and second daughter of Sachiko Sono, the Emperor's fifth concubine.