1955 deaths

Ernst Penzoldt (14 June 1892 – 27 January 1955) was a German writer, sculptor and painter.
Penzoldt was born in Erlangen. He had three older brothers. His father Franz Penzoldt was a German professor of medicine. From 1912 he studied sculpture in Weimar, under German sculpture professor Albin Egger-Lienz. In Weimar he met his friend Günther Stolle. In 1913 Penzoldt and Stolle went to university in Kassel. During World War I Petzoldt was in the army and worked as an emergency medical technician. In 1917 his friend Stolle died on active service.
After World War I Penzoldt lived in 1919 in Munich. There he met his next partner, Ernst Heimeran. Heimeran started his own publishing company, Heimeran Verlag. During the next years Penzoldt wrote several works, which he published in Heimeran Verlag. In 1922 Penzoldt married Heimerans sister Friederike. They had two children: Günther (1923–1997) and Ulrike (born 1927). He died, aged 62, in Munich.

Jonkheer Roelof van Lennep (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈrulɔfɑn ˈlɛnɛp]; 3 October 1876 – 13 September 1951) was a Dutch male tennis player. He competed for the Netherlands in the tennis event at the 1908 Summer Olympics where he took part in the men's singles and men's doubles competitions (partnering with his brother Christiaan).

Pierre Eugène Alfred Bouillin (22 December 1905 – 11 June 1955) was a French sportsman and racing driver. He took the racing name Pierre Levegh [ləvɛk] in memory of his uncle Alfred Velghe, a pioneering driver who died in 1904. Levegh died in the 1955 Le Mans disaster which also killed 83 spectators during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans automobile race.

Emil A. Rausch (11 September 1883 – 14 December 1954) was a German freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics and 1906 Intercalated Games.In the 1904 Olympics, he won gold medals in the 880 yard freestyle and 1 mile freestyle and a bronze medal in the 220 yard freestyle. Two years later, he won a silver medal as a member of German 4x250 m relay team and was fifth in 1 mile freestyle.

Georges Édouard Johin (31 July 1877 in Paris – 6 December 1955 in Tessancourt-sur-Aubette) was a French croquet player and Olympic champion. He received a silver medal in Singles, one ball at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.He also received a gold medal in Doubles (with Gaston Aumoitte), as the only participants in that competition.

Broer Doekele Dykstra (November 21, 1871 - March 29, 1955), usually cited as B. D. Dykstra, was a Dutch American pastor, educator, and poet who wrote several books, served as editor of the Volksvriend Dutch-language newspaper, and was a visible member of the Reformed Church in America. Known in the RCA as "the man on the bicycle," he operated a small publishing house with his sons and traveled door-to-door to sell his books.
Dykstra was born "Broer Dijkstra" in Pingjum, Friesland in 1871, son of Doekele Dijkstra and Beitske van der Schaaf. The family emigrated to the United States in 1882. He became an avid pacifist. He was a student at Orange City Academy, now Northwestern College in the late 19th century; today, the school offers the Dykstra-Muste-Nelson Peace Scholarship in his, A.J. Muste's, and Ronald R. Nelson's honor. He died in Orange City, Iowa, United States, in 1955.
Several of his sons became prominent educators and theologians. D. Ivan Dykstra was a professor of philosophy at Hope College, Wesley C. Dykstra held the same position at Alma College, and Vergil Dykstra served as president of George Mason University.

Robert Charles Francis (February 26, 1930 – July 31, 1955) was an American actor. He appeared in only four Hollywood films, all with military themes, before he was killed at age 25 in the crash of a small airplane he was piloting.

Joseph Robert Loscalzo (July 18, 1910 – October 19, 1955), known professionally as Midget Wolgast, was a world flyweight boxing champion.

Victor Brecheret, born Vittorio Breheret (December 15, 1894 – December 17, 1955), was an Italian-Brazilian sculptor. He lived most of his life in São Paulo, except for his studies in Paris in his early twenties. Brecheret's work combines techniques of European modernist sculpture with references to his native country through the physical characteristics of his human forms and visual motifs drawn from Brazilian folk art. Many of his subjects are figures from the Bible or classical mythology.

Larret Julian "Crash" Crockett (October 23, 1926 in Cambridge City, Indiana – March 20, 1955 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania) was an American racecar driver. Crockett made 10 Championship Car starts all in the 1954 season with a best finish of 4th in the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb which counted for National Championship points at the time and finished in 11th in the 1954 points championship. Nicknamed "Crash" because of frequent racing mishaps, Crockett qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 in 1954. He finished ninth and earned Rookie-of-the-Year honors. He was killed in a racing accident at Langhorne Speedway the following spring.