Deaths in October 1997


The following is a list of notable deaths in October 1997.
Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:
  • Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship, reason for notability, cause of death, and reference.

    October 1997

1

  • Francisco Aramburu, 75, Brazilian footballer.
  • Georg Bodenhausen, 92, Dutch civil servant.
  • John Bredice, 63, American football player.
  • Jerome H. Lemelson, 74, American engineer, inventor and patent holder, liver cancer.
  • Gul Mohammed, 40, Shortest adult human, heart attack.
  • Inbal Perlmuter, 26, Israeli rock musician, singer, composer and lyricist, traffic collision.

    2

  • Carybé, 86, Argentine-Brazilian artist, historian and journalist, heart failure.
  • Douglas Fairbairn, 70, American author.
  • Esa Seeste, 84, Finnish Olympic gymnast.
  • Guillermo Meza Álvarez, 80, Mexican painter.

    3

  • Michael Adekunle Ajasin, 88, Nigerian politician.
  • John Ashley, 62, American actor, producer and singer, heart attack.
  • Walter Baumgartner, 92, Swiss film composer.
  • Richard Gilkey, 72, American painter, suicide by gunshot.
  • Verna Hillie, 83, American film actress, stroke.
  • Jarl Kulle, 70, Swedish actor and director, bone cancer.
  • Millard Lampell, 78, American movie and television screenwriter, lung cancer.
  • Phil Medley, 81, American songwriter.
  • Charlie Parsley, 71, American basketball player, and college coach.
  • Hadassah Rosensaft, 85, Polish Holocaust survivor, liver failure.
  • A. L. Rowse, 93, British historian and author.
  • George Urban, 76, Hungarian writer.
  • Blake Wayne Van Leer, 71, United States Navy officer.

    4

  • Helmut Cämmerer, 86, German canoeist and Olympian.
  • Montanino Nuvoli, 66, Italian Olympic rower.
  • Nelson Coral Nye, 90, American author and editor.
  • Otto Ernst Remer, 85, German Wehrmacht officer during World War II.
  • Anne Strachan Robertson, 87, Scottish archaeologist, numismatist and writer.
  • Gunpei Yokoi, 56, Japanese video game designer and creator of the Game Boy, traffic collision.
  • Georgi Yumatov, 71, Soviet and Russian film actor, aneurysm.

    5

  • Chitta Basu, 70, Indian politician, heart attack.
  • Mary Jayne Gold, 88, American heiress, pancreatic cancer.
  • Andrew Keir, 71, Scottish actor.
  • Debbie Linden, 36, British glamour model and actress, heroin overdose.
  • John Chester MacRae, 85, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada.
  • Dave Marr, 63, American golfer and sportscaster, stomach cancer.
  • Brian Pillman, 35, American professional wrestler, heart attack.
  • Tommy Ring, 67, Scottish footballer.
  • Larisa Rozanova, 78, Soviet and Ukrainian pilot and navigator during World War II.
  • Curtis Williams Sabrosky, 87, American entomologist.
  • Arthur Tracy, 98, American vocalist and actor, heart attack.
  • Bernard Yago, 81, Ivorian cardinal of the Catholic Church.

    6

  • Orlando Ramón Agosti, 73, Argentine general and part of the military junta, cancer.
  • George T. Barclay, 87, American football player and coach.
  • Warren Louis Boudreaux, 79, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, heart failure.
  • Robert Endean, 71, Australian marine scientist.
  • Otto Grolimund, 79, Swiss Olympic field hockey player.
  • Adrienne Hill, 60, English actress, cancer.
  • Yevgeny Khaldei, 80, Soviet naval officer and photographer.
  • Johnny Vander Meer, 82, American baseball player, abdominal aneurysm.

    7

  • Arvo Ala-Pöntiö, 55, Finnish Olympic weightlifter.
  • Felicisimo Ampon, 76, Filipino tennis player.
  • Johnny Darrell, 57, American country music artist, diabetes.
  • Gus Marker, 92, Canadian ice hockey player.
  • Lou Possehl, 71, American baseball player.
  • Aldo Sebben, 77, American football, cross country, and track and field coach.
  • Janez Vrhovec, 76, Yugoslav actor of Slovenian-German origin.
  • Wan Laiming, 97, Chinese animator.

    8

  • Henryk Bista, 63, Polish actor.
  • Albert Blumberg, 91, American philosopher and political activist.
  • Bertrand Goldberg, 84, American architect and industrial designer.
  • Robin Lee, 77, American figure skater and Olympian.
  • Brown Meggs, 66, American writer and music executive.
  • John Merricks, 26, English sailor and Olympian.
  • Nininho, 73, Brazilian football player.
  • Desmond J. Scott, 79, New Zealand flying ace during World War II.
  • Sant Singh Sekhon, 89, Indian playwright and writer.
  • George Everard Kidder Smith, 84, American architectural writer and photographer.
  • William Spong Jr., 77, American politician, member of the United States Senate.
  • Mel Thurston, 78, American basketball player.

    9

  • Michael Cummings, 78, British newspaper cartoonist.
  • Monty Hoyt, 53, American figure skater and Olympian, melanoma.
  • Arch Johnson, 75, American actor, cancer.
  • Peter O'Malley, 70, New Zealand cricketer.
  • Jean Pasqualini, French/Chinese journalist.
  • Joel Pritchard, 72, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives, lymphoma.
  • Roy Rappaport, 71, American anthropologist.
  • Chuck Templeton, 65, American baseball player.

    10

  • D. J. Ambalavanar, 69, Sri Lankan Tamil bishop.
  • Marjorie Harris Carr, 82, American scientist and environmental activist.
  • Michael J. S. Dewar, 79, American theoretical chemist.
  • Hans-Joachim Kasprzik, 69, German film and television director and screenwriter.
  • George Malcolm, 80, English pianist, harpsichordist, composer, and conductor.
  • Anne Marriott, 83, Canadian writer, stroke.
  • Dencio Padilla, 69, Filipino actor and comedian, heart attack.
  • Marjorie McQuade, 63, Australian swimmer and Olympian.
  • Walt Simon, 57, American basketball player.
  • Thomas Whiteside, 79, American journalist, heart failure.

    11

  • Paul Doughty Bartlett, 90, American chemist.
  • Giacinto Bosco, 92, Italian jurist, academic and politician.
  • Lina Gennari, 86, Italian actress and operetta singer.
  • Käthe Gold, 90, Austrian actress.
  • Will Sherman, 69, American gridiron football player.
  • Ivan Yarygin, 48, Soviet / Russian heavyweight freestyle wrestler, traffic collision.

    12

  • Raúl Arellano, 62, Mexican football forward.
  • Rodrigue Bourdages, 73, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada.
  • John Denver, 53, American singer and activist, plane crash.
  • Talib El-Shibib, 63, Iraqi politician.
  • Draga Garašanin, 76, Serbian archaeologist.
  • Kenneth Hahn, 77, American civil servant, heart failure.
  • Fred McCain, 79, Canadian politician.
  • Isadore Twersky, 67, American orthodox rabbi and professor.

    13

  • Ian Stuart Black, 82, British novelist, playwright and screenwriter.
  • Joyce Compton, 90, American actress.
  • Gary Lee Davis, 53, American convicted murderer, execution by lethal injection.
  • Kārlis Irbītis, 92, Latvian aeroplane designer.
  • Yasuo Kawamura, 89, Japanese Olympic speed skater.
  • Obie Layton, 86, American baseball player.
  • Richard Mason, 78, British novelist, lung cancer.
  • Malte Möller, 83, Swedish Olympic wrestler.
  • Frazier Robinson, 87, American baseball player.
  • William Staveley, 68, Royal Navy officer, heart attack.
  • Adil Çarçani, 75, Albanian politician.

    14

  • Hy Averback, 76, American actor, producer and director.
  • Piedade Coutinho, 77, Brazilian swimmer and Olympian.
  • Jacqueline Delubac, 90, French stage and film actress, traffic collision.
  • George Forrest, 72, British classicist and academic, cancer.
  • Henry Pelling, 77, British historian.
  • Harold Robbins, 81, American writer, heart failure.
  • Barbara Slater, 76, American film actress.

    15

  • Jack Arnold, 78, Australian rugby league footballer.
  • MacDonald Critchley, 97, British neurologist.
  • Peter J. Dalessandro, 79, United States Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient.
  • Jack Dwyer, 70, American gridiron football player.
  • Walter Fritzsch, 76, German football player and manager.
  • Parker T. Hart, 87, American diplomat.
  • Bill McKay, 76, Irish rugby player.
  • Käthe Sohnemann, 85, German Olympic gymnast.

    16

  • A. H. Armstrong, 88, English educator and author.
  • Dick Cavalli, 74, American cartoonist, heart attack.
  • Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, 94, Greek princess, Alzheimer's disease.
  • Noel Ferrier, 66, Australian comedian, actor, and theatrical producer.
  • Lotte Goslar, 90, German-American dancer.
  • Adam Kennedy, 75, American actor, novelist, and painter, heart attack.
  • Audra Lindley, 79, American actress, leukemia.
  • James A. Michener, 90, American author, kidney failure.

    17

  • Joyce Christ, 76, Australian cricketer.
  • Larry Jennings, 64, American magician.
  • Sergei Kalinin, 70, Soviet Russian sports shooter and Olympian.
  • Jim O'Neil, 84, Canadian ice hockey player.
  • Giorgio Pisanò, 73, Italian journalist, essayist and neo-fascist politician.
  • László Szabados, 86, Hungarian swimmer and Olympic medalist.
  • Ben Welden, 96, American actor.
  • Fang Yi, 81, Chinese Communist revolutionary, diplomat, and politician.

    18

  • Leonard Andrzejewski, 73, Polish actor.
  • Ramiro Castillo, 31, Bolivian footballer, suicide by hanging.
  • Gordon Clark, 83, English football player.
  • Walter William Curtis, 84, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, pneumonia.
  • Nancy Dickerson, 70, American radio and television journalist, stroke.
  • Trude Eipperle, 89, German operatic soprano.
  • Vince Gironda, 79, American bodybuilder, personal trainer and author.
  • Roberto Goizueta, 65, Cuban businessman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, cancer.
  • J. Smith Henley, 80, American judge.
  • Étienne Laisné, 92, French Olympic racewalker.
  • Milt Neil, 83, American animator.
  • William Rotsler, 71, American artist, cartoonist, pornographer and author.
  • Paul Edwin Zimmer, 54, American poet and author, heart attack.