List of Famous people who died in 2017
Paolo Villaggio
Paolo Villaggio was an Italian actor, voice actor, writer, director and comedian. He is noted for the characters he created with paradoxical and grotesque characteristics: Professor Kranz, the ultra-timid Giandomenico Fracchia, and the obsequious and meek accountant Ugo Fantozzi, perhaps the favourite character in Italian comedy. He wrote several books, usually of satirical character. He also acted in dramatic roles, and appeared in several movies.
Elli Norkett
Elli Norkett was a Welsh rugby union player who played for Swansea Ladies/Ospreys and the Wales women's national rugby union team. She was the youngest player at the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup, having made her debut earlier that year in the Six Nations Championship.
Pancho Segura
Francisco Olegario Segura, better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. In 1950, 1951, and 1952, as a professional, he was the world No. 1 player in the USPLTA rankings. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but moved to the United States in the late 1930s and was a citizen of both countries, becoming an American citizen in 1991. He is the only player to have won the Cleveland/Forest Hills US Pro and International Pro titles on three different surfaces.
Dave Steele
David Steele was an American professional racing driver who won numerous sprint car racing championships and also competed in IndyCar and NASCAR races. Steele last drove a winged sprint car in the Southern Sprintcar Shootout Series, where he won the first 5 races in series history. Steele was killed in a crash at Desoto Speedway on March 25, 2017.
Bryan Murray
Bryan Clarence Murray was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and coach. He served as general manager of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2007 to 2016. He had previously been general manager of the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Florida Panthers, and Detroit Red Wings. He was also the head coach for the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Ottawa Senators, for a total of 17 full or partial seasons.
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss was an English writer and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960s.
William G. Stewart
William Gladstone Stewart was an English television producer, director, and television presenter, best known as the presenter and producer of the Channel 4 quiz show Fifteen to One from 1988 to 2003.
Miriam Rodríguez Martínez
Miriam Elizabeth Rodríguez Martínez was a Mexican human rights activist. She became one of the many "Missing Child Parents", after her daughter was abducted and killed. Miriam was killed by gunmen who broke into her home on 10 May 2017.
Simeon Booker
Simeon Saunders Booker Jr. was an African-American journalist whose work appeared in leading news publications for more than 50 years. He was known for his journalistic works during the civil rights movement and for his coverage of the 1955 murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. He worked for The Washington Post, Jet, and Ebony.
Dennis Banks
Dennis Banks was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urban Indians.