1961 deaths

Gaetano Pietra (10 August 1879, in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Italy – 1961, in Villanova dello Iudrio, Udine, Italy) was an Italian statistician.

Beppo Levi (14 May 1875 – 28 August 1961) was an Italian mathematician. He published high-level academic articles and books, not only on mathematics, but also on physics, history, philosophy, and pedagogy. Levi was a member of the Bologna Academy of Sciences and of the Accademia dei Lincei.

Léopold Nègre (15 June 1879 – 29 July 1961) was a French physician and biologist born in Montpellier.
He studied natural sciences at the University of Montpellier, followed by courses in microbiology at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. From 1907 to 1910, he served as préparateur at the laboratory of microbiology courses headed by Amédée Borrel (1867–1936). In 1910, he obtained his doctorate of medicine. Following an internship at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, he was appointed laboratory chief (microbial analysis) at the Pasteur Institute in Algiers. In 1918 he received his doctorate of natural sciences.
In 1919, he was assigned to the laboratory of tuberculosis headed by Albert Calmette (1863–1933) at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Here he took part in research of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG vaccine). With microbiologist Alfred Boquet (1879–1947) he developed antigene méthylique (methyl antigen) for treatment of tuberculosis.In 1931, Nègre became chair at the Institut Pasteur, and in 1944 was named vice president of the Société de biologie. He was also president of the Société française de la tuberculose (1950) and a member of the Académie de Médecine (hygiene section, from 1951).

Léon François Larive (28 June 1886 – 20 July 1961) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1923 and 1961.

Rudolf Schwarz (15 May 1897, Strasbourg – 3 April 1961, Cologne) was a German architect known for his work on Kirche St. Fronleichnam, Aachen. He also played a decisive part in the reconstruction of Cologne after the Second World War. He took a leading role with Cologne's reconstruction authority between 1947 and 1952, contributing to the rebuilding of the city with some of his own designs. Among these is the Wallraf-Richartz Museum (1956), which now houses the Museum of Applied Art. He also reconstructed the pilgrimage church of Saint Anne in Düren, near Aachen, which is probably his most famous work.
Schwarz worked with the German blacksmith Carl Wyland and closely with the Fr. Romano Guardini at Burg Rothenfels, where he designed the chapel for Quickborn, a large German Catholic youth movement run by Guardini.
His wife, Maria Schwarz, worked together with him and is still in business as an architect, especially in reconstructing and modifying her husband's buildings.

Hanns Grewenig (30 September 1891 - 6 April 1961) was a German engineer who pursued a successful career in the German Automobile Industry. He was the Commercial Director and a leading member of the executive board at BMW between 1948 and 1957.

Victor Vina (1885–1961) was a French film actor.He was born Victor Emanuel Jules Vinatieri in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France and died in Paris.

Alberto Talegalli (2 October 1913 – 10 July 1961) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 37 films between 1952 and 1961. He was born in Pincano (Spoleto), Italy and died in Gualdo Tadino, in the province of Perugia, Italy.

Sylvia Regina Rexach González (January 22, 1922 – October 20, 1961) was a Puerto Rican comedy scriptwriter, poet, singer and composer of boleros.

Saturnin Fabre (4 April 1884 – 4 October 1961) was a French film actor.