List of Famous people who died in 1940

Charles Samuel Deneen was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd Governor of Illinois, from 1905 to 1913. He was the first Illinois governor to serve two consecutive terms totalling eight years. Notably, he was governor during the infamous Springfield race riot of 1908, which he helped put down. He later served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois, from 1925 to 1931. Deneen had previously served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1892 to 1894. As an attorney, he had been the lead prosecutor in Chicago's infamous Adolph Luetgert murder trial.

Paul Édouard Passy was a French linguist, founder of the International Phonetic Association in 1886. He took part in the elaboration of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Petur Alberg, Faroese violin player and songwriter from Tórshavn. He composed the anthem of the Faroes, Mítt alfagra land or Tú alfagra land mítt as it is usually called.

Captain Russell Thomas Harmer was a British sailor who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham was the 35th Governor of Kentucky and a United States Senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator after the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment.

Ralph Arthur Roberts was a German film actor who also directed in the theatre and occasionally in film and wrote plays. From 1928 on, he headed the Berlin Theatre in Behrenstraße.