List of Famous people who died in 1940

Giuseppe Momo (1875–1940) was an Italian architect and engineer, perhaps best known for the Bramante Staircase in the Vatican Museums cast by Ferdinando Marinelli Artistic Foundry of Florence and the Pontifical Ethiopian College.

Xhafer Ypi was an Albanian politician.

Edward Alyn Warren was an American actor. He appeared in 99 films between 1915 and 1940. In some early silent films he was credited as Fred Warren or E. A. Warren. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He died at the age of 65.

Zhang Zizhong was a general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army (NRA) during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Born in Linqing, Shandong, he was the highest-ranked officer and the only Army group commander of the NRA to die in the war. He was killed-in-action during the Battle of Yichang after refusing to retreat from the front lines. He showed great valor in the field and was regarded as one of the most valiant and respectable Chinese generals by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Because he was lieutenant general with the effective rank of full general at the time of his death, and was posthumously promoted to full general, he was also one of the highest-ranked Allied officers killed in action in World War II. His mausoleum is situated in Beibei District, Chongqing. There are roads named after him in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Wuhan.

Valdemar Fini Henriques was a Danish composer and violinist.

Otto Toeplitz was a German mathematician working in functional analysis.

Karl Muck was a German-born conductor of classical music. He based his activities principally in Europe and mostly in opera. His American career comprised two stints at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He endured a public outcry in 1917 that questioned whether his loyalties lay with Germany or the United States during World War I. Though he was a Swiss citizen, he was arrested and interned in a camp in Georgia from March 1918 until August 1919. His later career included notable engagements in Hamburg and at the Bayreuth Festival.

John Kenworthy B.Sc., F.R.Aes (1883–1940) was an English aviation engineer and aircraft designer.