List of Famous people who died in 1961

Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Finchley from the 1935 general election until the 1959 general election, when he was succeeded by Margaret Thatcher.

Alice Voinescu (1885–1961) was a Romanian writer, essayist, university professor, theatre critic and translator. She was the first Romanian woman to become a Doctor of Philosophy, which she did at the Sorbonne in 1913 in Paris. In 1922, she became a professor of theatrical history at what would become the Royal Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bucharest, where she taught for over two decades. In 1948, she was removed from her department and spent a year and seven months in prisons in Jilava and Ghencea. After her detention, she was kept under house arrest in the village of Costești near Târgu Frumos until 1954. Posthumously, her diary covering the interwar and communist period of Romania's history was discovered and published in 1997.

Archibald Frank Engelbach was an English badminton player. He competed in the All England Badminton Championships, winning the men's doubles title in 1920 under the alias A. Fee. He was a schools gymnastic champion before taking up badminton and became a prominent badminton judge. This resulted in him being uncapped for the England team. In 1930 he married Violet Baddeley, also a well known badminton player, daughter of Herbert Baddeley, the four-time winner of the Wimbledon doubles. He died in December 1961 at his home in London aged 80.

Kathleen Shackleton MBE was an Irish portrait painter and journalist.

Anne-Léontine Nicolas Amieux was a French educator. She was principal of the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles at Sèvres from 1919 to 1936.

Shigeko Higashikuni , born Shigeko, Princess Teru , was the wife of Prince Morihiro Higashikuni and eldest daughter of Emperor Shōwa and Empress Kōjun. She was the eldest sister to Japan's Emperor Emeritus Akihito.

Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf was a German politician (SPD). He joined the SPD in 1919. He served as Prime Minister of the short-lived State of Hanover in 1946 and then as Minister President of Lower Saxony from 1946 to 1955 and from 1959 to 1961. He served as the third President of the Bundesrat from 7 September 1951 to 6 September 1952.

Crown Prince Louis Rwagasore was a Burundian Royal and politician who is considered a significant figure in the history of Burundi nationalism. He was prime minister, and was assassinated shortly before Burundian independence.

Earle Dickson was an American inventor best known for inventing adhesive bandages in the US. He lived in Highland Park, New Jersey, for a large portion of his life.