Deaths on 17 January
2000s
Didier Guillaume
2025
French politician (1959–2025)
Jules Feiffer
2025
American cartoonist and author (1929–2025)
Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat
2025
1st President of Mongolia from 1990 to 1997
Denis Law
2025
Scottish footballer (1940–2025)
Lucile Randon
2023
French supercentenarian (1904–2023)
Birju Maharaj
2022
Indian dancer, singer, and composer (1938–2022)
Rasheed Naz
2021
Pakistani film and television actor (1948–2022)
Derek Fowlds
2020
English actor (1937–2020)
S. Balakrishnan (composer)
2019
Film composer and music director (died 2019)
Tirrel Burton
2017
American football player, coach, and broadcaster (1929–2017)
Colo (gorilla)
2017
Western lowland gorilla
Blowfly (musician)
2016
American musician (1939–2016)
Melvin Day
2016
New Zealand artist (1923–2016)
V. Rama Rao
2016
Indian politician
Sudhindra Thirtha (Kashi Math)
2016
Indian guru
Ken Furphy
2015
English footballer and manager
Faten Hamama
2015
Egyptian actress and producer (1931–2015)
Don Harron
2015
Canadian actor and comedian
Mohammed Burhanuddin
2014
Da'i al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras from 1965 to 2014
Francine Lalonde
2014
Canadian politician (1940–2014)
Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
2014
British businessman, politician and author (1942–2014)
John J. McGinty III
2014
Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient (1940–2014)
Sunanda Pushkar
2014
Indo-Canadian businessperson (1962–2014)
Suchitra Sen
2014
Indian actress (1931–2014)
Mehmet Ali Birand
2013
Turkish journalist (1941–2013)
Jakob Arjouni
2013
German author (1964–2013)
Yves Debay
2013
French-Belgian war correspondent (1954-2013)
John Nkomo
2013
Zimbabwean politician
Lizbeth Webb
2013
British singer and actor (1926–2013)
Julius Meimberg
2012
Fighter pilot and inventor (1917–2012)
Johnny Otis
2012
Greek-American musical entertainer (1921–2012)
Marty Springstead
2012
American baseball umpire (1937-2012)
Don Kirshner
2011
American songwriter, publisher, music producer, manager (1934–2011)
Gaines Adams
2010
American football player (1983–2010)
Jyoti Basu
2010
Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000
Michalis Papakonstantinou
2010
Greek politician (1919–2010)
Erich Segal
2010
American author (1937–2010)
Anders Isaksson
2009
Swedish journalist, writer, and historian
Bobby Fischer
2008
American chess grandmaster (1943–2008)
Ernie Holmes
2008
American football player (1948–2008)
Art Buchwald
2007
American humorist
Yevhen Kushnaryov
2007
Ukrainian politician (1951–2007)
Uwe Nettelbeck
2007
German record producer, journalist and film critic (1940–2007)
Pierre Grondin
2006
Canadian cardiac surgeon (1925–2006)
Charlie Bell (businessman)
2005
Australian businessman
Virginia Mayo
2005
American actress (1920–2005)
Albert Schatz (scientist)
2005
American microbiologist and antibiotic discoverer (1920–2005)
Zhao Ziyang
2005
Chinese politician (1919–2005)
Raymond Bonham Carter
2004
British banker (1929–2004)
Harry Brecheen
2004
American baseball player (1914–2004)
Ray Stark
2004
American film producer (1915–2004)
Noble Willingham
2004
American actor (1931–2004)
Richard Crenna
2003
American actor (1926–2003)
Camilo José Cela
2002
Spanish novelist, poet, essayist (1916–2002)
Roman Personov
2002
Philip Jones (musician)
2000
British trumpeter
Ion Rațiu
2000
Romanian newspaper editor and politician (1917–2000)
1900s
Bert Kelly
1997
Australian politician (1912–1997)
Clyde Tombaugh
1997
American astronomer (1906–1997)
Barbara Jordan
1996
American politician, lawyer, and educator (1936–1996)
Sylvia Lawler
1996
British geneticist
Yevgeny Ivanov (spy)
1994
Soviet spy (1926–1994)
Helen Stephens
1994
American athlete (1918–1994)
Albert Hourani
1993
Lebanese-British historian (1915–1993)
Frank Pullen
1992
British businessman
Olav V
1991
King of Norway from 1957 to 1991
Panka Pelishek
1990
Bulgarian pianist (1899–1990)
Percy Qoboza
1988
Hugo Fregonese
1987
Argentina-born film director (1908–1987)
Lawrence Kohlberg
1987
American psychologist (1927–1987)
Kostas Giannidis
1984
Greek composer, pianist, and conductor
Loukas Panourgias
1981
Greek athlete (1899–1981)
Dougal Haston
1977
British mountain climber (1940–1977)
Gary Gilmore
1977
American murderer (1940–1977)
Betty Smith
1972
American playwright and novelist (1896–1972)
Simon Kovar
1970
Musical artist
Billy Stewart
1970
American R&B singer and pianist (1937–1970)
Patrice Lumumba
1961
Congolese politician and independence leader (1925–1961)
Walter Briggs Sr.
1952
American entrepreneur and professional sports owner
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala
1951
India writer and filmmaker (1903–1951)
Pyotr Krasnov
1947
Russian Cossack general, historian and collaborator (1869–1947)
Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve
1947
Canadian Cardinal
Walter von Reichenau
1942
German field marshal (1884–1942)
Mateiu Caragiale
1936
Romanian poet and prose writer (1885–1936)
Louis Comfort Tiffany
1933
American art glass designer (1848–1933)
Ahmet Derviş
1932
Albert Jacka
1932
Australian Victoria Cross recipient and Mayor of St. Kilda
Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia
1931
Russian Grand Duke
Gauhar Jaan
1930
Indian singer and dancer (1873 – 1930)
Juliette Gordon Low
1927
Founder of the Girl Scouts
Francis Galton
1911
British eugenist, polymath, and behavioural geneticist (1822–1911)
Agathon Meurman
1909
Finnish politician and journalist
Francis Smith (Australian politician)
1909
Australian politician
Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany
1908
Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1859 to 1860
Ignaz Wechselmann
1903
Hungarian architect (1828–1903)
1800s
Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover
1896
British noble (1802–1896)
Rutherford B. Hayes
1893
President of the United States from 1877 to 1881
George Bancroft
1891
American historian and statesman (1800–1891)
Big Bear
1888
19th-century Cree chief
William Giblin
1887
Australian politician (1840–1887)
Hermann Schlegel
1884
German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist
Edward Shepherd Creasy
1878
Chief Justice of British Ceylon from 1860 to 1875
Alexander Dargomyzhsky
1869
Russian composer (1813–1869)
Horace Vernet
1863
French painter (1789–1863)
Lola Montez
1861
Irish dancer and actress
Elizabeth Simcoe
1850
English artist (1762–1850)
Giovanni Aldini
1834
Italian physician and physicist (1762–1834)
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga
1826
Spanish composer (1806–1826)
Before 1800
Tomaso Albinoni
1751
Italian composer (1671–1751)
Jean-François Dandrieu
1738
French composer, harpsichordist and organist (c. 1682-1738)
Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann
1737
German master builder and architect
Benjamin Church (ranger)
1718
New England military officer and politician (1639–1718)
John Ray
1705
British naturalist (1627–1705)
Fausto Veranzio
1617
Venetian-Croatian polymath and bishop (c. 1551–1617)
Feodor I of Russia
1598
Tsar of Russia from 1584 to 1598
Qi Jiguang
1588
Chinese general and writer (1528–1588)
Elisabeth of Hesse-Marburg
1523
German landgravine (1466–1523)
Skanderbeg
1468
Albanian warlord and military commander (1405–1468)
Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont
1456
German countess and pioneer of the prose novel
Peter I of Cyprus
1369
King of Cyprus from 1358 to 1369
Henry of Asti
1345
Roman Catholic archbishop
Martino Zaccaria
1345
14th-century Lord of Chios
John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond
1334
British Earl (1266–1334)
Roseline of Villeneuve
1329
Albert of Riga
1229
German bishop in medieval Livonia
Thierry, Count of Flanders
1168
Count of Flanders from 1128 to 1168
André de Montbard
1156
Fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
Masʽud I
1040
Ghaznavid Sultan from 1030 to 1040
Joseph of Freising
764
Bishop of Freising from 747/748 to 764
Sulpicius the Pious
644
French bishop and saint
Theodosius I
395
Roman emperor from 379 to 395