List of Famous people who died in 2017

Claude Fagedet was a French photographer. He took many photographs of Occitanie, including his hometown of Narbonne and the chalets in Gruissan. He also took photographs on his many trips abroad. He was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France.

Viktor Davidovich Kupreichik was a Belarusian chess grandmaster.

Mircea Drăgan was a Romanian film director. He directed 23 films between 1955 and 1992. His 1961 film Thirst was entered into the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver Prize. Two years later, his film Lupeni 29 was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival and it also won the Silver Prize. He was a member of the jury at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1973 film Explosion was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Diploma.

Donald Eugene “Nakaya” Nielsen was an American kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and chiropractor. Best known for his lengthy tenure in professional martial arts, Nielsen was an international competitor who held the WKA US Cruiserweight Championship for much of his career and fought in one of the earliest mixed martial arts-style matches of Japan. As an alternative medicine practitioner, Nielsen played an active role in legalizing chiropractic practice in Thailand.

Vahit Melih Halefoğlu was a Turkish politician and diplomat.

Anatoly Sergeevich Chernyaev was a Russian historian and writer who was a principal foreign-policy advisor to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev during the final days of the Soviet Union.

Misael Eduardo Pastrana Borrero was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd President of Colombia from 1970 to 1974. He was also the father of the 30th President Andrés Pastrana Arango.

Vann Molyvann was a Cambodian architect. During the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime (1955–1970) Prince Norodom Sihanouk enacted a development policy encompassing the whole kingdom with the construction of new towns, infrastructure and architecture. Vann was the foremost of a generation of architects who contributed to the unique style of architecture that emerged during this era and that has been coined New Khmer Architecture. In 1997 Darryl Collins Historian and Helen Grant Ross Architect Historian, two lecturers at the Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, questioned the history behind this heritage of modern architecture that all could see throughout the land, but that everybody had forgotten due to the troubled history of the Kingdom. After nearly 10 years of research in 2006 they published the facts. In the meantime they produced exhibitions, participated in university conferences, and wrote many articles in the press about the phenomenon known as New Khmer Architecture, and the accomplishments of Vann Molyvann who was still alive and who they had interviewed lengthily.

Daniël (Daan) van Golden was a Dutch artist, who has been active as a painter, photographer, collagist, installation artist, wall painter and graphic artist. He is known for his meticulous paintings of motives and details of everyday life and every day images.

Jacques Moreau was a French politician. He served as a Socialist Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1984.