List of Famous people who died in 1997

Bonny Susan Hicks was a Singapore-Eurasian model and writer. After garnering local fame as a model, she gained recognition for her contributions to Singaporean post-colonial literature and the anthropic philosophy conveyed in her works. Her first book, Excuse Me, Are You A Model?, is recognised as a significant milestone in the literary and cultural history of Singapore. Hicks later published a second book, Discuss Disgust, and many shorter pieces in press outlets, including a short-lived opinion column in a major Singaporean daily that was pulled due to public dissent from Singaporean traditionalists.

Mahmoud Mohamed Shaker, Abu Fihr, Egyptian writer, poet journalist and scholar of the Arabic language and Islamic culture heritage.

Soenario, also spelled Sunario, was Indonesia's minister of foreign affairs from 1953 to 1955.

Thae Byong-ryol, General of the Korean People ’s Army. On October 1980 elected by the First Plenary Session of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea he was elected a member of the Central Military Commission. Thae Byong-ryol served as a member of the central Committee from October 14, 1980 until his death. He has at least one son named Thae Hyong-chol, who is the president of Kim Il Sung University.

Peng Zhen was a leading member of the Communist Party of China. He led the party organization in Beijing following the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, but was purged during the Cultural Revolution for opposing Mao's views on the role of literature in relation to the state. He was rehabilitated under Deng Xiaoping in 1982 along with other 'wrongly accused' officials, and became the inaugural head of the CPC Central Political and Legislative Committee.