List of Famous people who died in 1961

Tan Kah Kee, was a Chinese-born Singaporean businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was a community leader and philanthropist active in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Xiamen, and Guangzhou. A prominent figure in the overseas Chinese community in Southeast Asia in the 20th century, he was responsible for gathering much support from the community to aid China in major events such as the Xinhai Revolution (1911), the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition (1926–28), and the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). Apart from donating most of his assets and earnings to aid China in those major events, Tan set up funds in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong and contributed to the establishment of several schools in Southeast Asia and China's Fujian Province, including Xiamen University.

Paul Maximilien Landowski was a French monument sculptor of Polish descent. His best-known work is Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Paul Willard Merrill was an American astronomer whose specialty was spectroscopy. He was the first to define S-type stars in 1922.

Oskar Loorits was an Estonian folklorist.

Hermann Foertsch was a German general during World War II who held commands at the divisional, corps and army levels. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.

Nicolai Andreyevich Malko was a symphonic conductor.

George H. Melford was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMille's, appearing in big bold letters above the title of his films.

Ruth Fischer was an Austrian and German Communist and a co-founder of the Austrian Communist Party in 1918. She later became a staunch anti-Stalinist activist and, according to secret information declassified in 2010, was a key agent of the American intelligence service known as "The Pond".

Peretz Naftali was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician who served in several ministerial portfolios in the 1950s.

Baldev Singh was an Indian Sikh political leader, he was an Indian independence movement leader and the first Defence Minister of India. Moreover, he represented the Punjabi Sikh community in the processes of negotiations that resulted in the independence of India, as well as the Partition of India in 1947.