List of Famous people who died in 2017

Mário Alberto Nobre Lopes Soares, GColTE, GCC, GColL was a Portuguese politician, who served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1976 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1985, and subsequently as the 17th President of Portugal from 1986 to 1996. He was the first Secretary-General of the Socialist Party, from its foundation in 1973 to 1986.

Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta was a Nigerian-born novelist, based in the UK from 1962, who also wrote plays and an autobiography, as well as works for children. She was the author of more than 20 books, including Second Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). Most of her early novels were published by the London-based company Allison and Busby, where her editor was Margaret Busby.

Haruo Nakajima was a Japanese actor best known for playing Godzilla in twelve consecutive films, starting from the original Godzilla (1954) until Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972). He also played various other giant monsters in Kaiju films, including Mothra and The War of the Gargantuas and also appeared in a minor role in the Akira Kurosawa film Seven Samurai.

Toby Grafftey-Smith, known professionally as Toby Smith, was an English musician, most famous for being the keyboardist and co-songwriter for Jamiroquai from 1992 until his departure in 2002.

Chhota Shakeel is an Indian crime boss and a high-ranking leader of the D-Company, a criminal group based in South Asia. He joined the D-Company in 1988 under the kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, and is reportedly responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the criminal group. Shakeel became one of the most-wanted men in India after his alleged participation in the 1993 Bombay bombings. He is also wanted by the U.S. government for international drug trafficking. In January 2017, Shakeel was reported dead by multiple sources.

Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. was a German cinematographer who had collaborated with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols and James L. Brooks. He was a member of both the Academy of Arts, Berlin and the American Society of Cinematographers.

John Hagen Bernecker was an American stunt performer.

George Dallas Green was an American professional baseball pitcher, manager, scout and executive in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played big league baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators and New York Mets, from 1960 through 1967. A man of towering stature, at 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and 210 pounds (95 kg), Green achieved notoriety for his blunt manner. He possessed a booming voice and achieved many successes over a baseball career that lasted over 60 years.

Paul O'Neill was an American music composer, lyricist and producer.

Robert Charles Sproul was an American Reformed theologian and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. He was the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries and could be heard daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and internationally. Under Sproul's direction, Ligonier Ministries produced the Ligonier Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, which would eventually grow into the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, of which Sproul, alongside Norman Geisler, was one of the chief architects. Sproul has been described as "the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century."