List of Famous people who died in 2017

Matrena Semyonovna Nazdrachev was a medic in the 100th Guards Infantry Regiment of the 35th Guards Rifle Division of the Red Army during World War II. On 15 May 1946 she was awarded the Order of Glory 1st Class, making her one of only four women to become a full cavalier of the award.

Charles Randolph Quirk, Baron Quirk, CBE, FBA was a British linguist and life peer. He was the Quain Professor of English language and literature at University College London from 1968 to 1981. He sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords.

Patrick van Rensburg was a South African-born anti-apartheid activist and educator. In the 1960s he founded Swaneng Hill School in Serowe, Botswana, and the nationwide Brigades Movement in that country. In the 1980s he founded the Mmegi national newspaper and the Foundation for Education with Production, which promoted his ideas in South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing replicable educational models for the third world majority".

Alfonso Wong, also known by his pen name Wong Chak, was a Hong Kong manhua artist who created one of the longest-running comic strips, Old Master Q, that became popular across Asia.

Seiji Yokoyama was a prolific Japanese incidental music composer from Hiroshima who was best known to the West for his work on the Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Saint Seiya series. He was a graduate student of Kunitachi College of Music.

Grady Bernard Tate was an American jazz and soul-jazz drummer and baritone vocalist. In addition to his work as sideman, Tate released many albums as leader and lent his voice to songs in the animated Schoolhouse Rock! series.

Manfredi Nicoletti was an Italian architect.

Reginald Athelstane Arnold was an Australian racing cyclist.

David Pell was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and record producer. He was best known for leading a cool jazz octet in the 1950s.

Joel Goodman Joffe, Baron Joffe, was a South African-born British lawyer and Labour peer in the House of Lords.