Deaths in September 1997


The following is a list of notable deaths in September 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.

    September 1997

1

  • Boris Balinsky, 91, Ukrainian and South African biologist, embryologist and entomologist.
  • Gordon Blake, 87, U.S. Air Force lieutenant general.
  • Harriet Browne, 65, American tap dancer and choreographer.
  • Zoltán Czibor, 68, Hungarian footballer and Olympian.
  • Joseph Abel Francis, 73, American Catholic bishop.
  • Reidar Olsen, 86, Norwegian footballer.

    2

  • Robert Abernathy, 80, American baseball player.
  • George E. Allen, 85, American football player and coach.
  • Sir Rudolf Bing, 95, Austrian-born opera manager, Alzheimer's disease.
  • Viktor Frankl, 92, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist.
  • Warner T. Koiter, 83, Dutch mechanical engineer and professor.
  • Joseph Thomas O'Keefe, 78, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, heart failure.
  • Germán Rieckehoff, 82, Puerto Rican politician.
  • Mary Sears, 92, American oceanographer.
  • John Stanes, 86, Australian cricketer.

    3

  • Arthur Chin, 83, American pilot and World War II flying ace.
  • Tony Demers, 80, Canadian ice hockey player.
  • Harold G. Dick, 90, American mechanical engineer.
  • Hal Goodman, 82, American producer and screenwriter.
  • Hans Niclaus, 83, German Olympic basketball player.
  • Ernst C. Stiefel, 89, German-American jurist.

    4

  • Khaled Abdul-Wahab, 86, Tunisian rescuer of Jews.
  • Chuck Arnold, 71, American racecar driver.
  • Bernard Batillat, 89, French rower and Olympian.
  • Jeffrey Bernard, 65, British journalist, renal failure.
  • Dharamvir Bharati, 70, Indian poet, author and playwright, heart disease.
  • Pierre Chatenet, 80, French politician.
  • Natko Devčić, 83, Croatian composer.
  • Hans Eysenck, 81, German-born British psychologist, brain cancer.
  • Alfred Kałuziński, 44, Polish handball player and Olympian.
  • Ivan Nenov, 95, Bulgarian painter.
  • Jan Opperman, 58, American racecar driver.
  • Florence Engel Randall, 79, American author.
  • Aldo Rossi, 66, Italian architect and designer, traffic collision.
  • Belle Stewart, 91, Scottish traditional singer.

    5

  • Mildred Dein, 85, American screenwriter.
  • Ann Dunnigan, 87, American actress and teacher.
  • Leon Edel, 89, American literary critic and biographer.
  • Polly Lada-Mocarski, 94, American rare book scholar, educator, and bookbinder.
  • Manuel Martin, 79, American soccer player-coach and Olympian.
  • Andrej Prean Nagy, 76, Romanian-Hungarian football player and coach.
  • Fred Rubi, 70, Swiss Olympic alpine skier.
  • Eddie Little Sky, 71, Native American actor, lung cancer.
  • Georg Solti, 84, Hungarian conductor, heart attack.
  • Mother Teresa, 87, Albanian missionary and humanitarian, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, heart failure.

    6

  • Salvador Artigas, 84, Spanish football player and manager.
  • Edward Dumbauld, 91, American district judge.
  • Edward H. Hurst, 80, United States Marine Corps officer.
  • Roy Huskey, Jr., 40, American upright bass player, lung cancer.
  • Mary Lawson, 73, American baseball player.
  • P. H. Newby, 79, English novelist.
  • H. W. L. Poonja, Indian sage and jivanmukta, pneumonia.
  • Refik Resmja, 66, Albanian footballer.
  • Jean-Pierre Sudre, 75, French photographer.
  • Uglješa Uzelac, 59, Bosnian politician and diplomat.

    7

  • Abdullah al-Tariki, 78, Saudi politician and government official, heart attack.
  • Mukul S. Anand, 45, Indian film director and producer, heart attack.
  • Edwin Brock, 69, British poet.
  • Elisabeth Brooks, 46, Canadian actress, brain cancer.
  • John Carden, 66, English-born American Olympic soccer player.
  • Connie Clausen, 74, American actress, author, and literary agent, stroke.
  • George W. Crockett, Jr., 88, African-American attorney, jurist, and congressman.
  • Héctor Espino, 58, Mexican baseball player and manager.
  • Mark Holtz, 51, American sportscaster, leukemia.
  • Edgar Kaplan, 72, American bridge player, cancer.
  • Mobutu Sese Seko, 66, Congolese politician and president of Zaire, prostate cancer.
  • Bill Strannigan, 78, American basketball coach.
  • Brian Whittaker, 40, Scottish football player.

    8

  • Marie Bedford, 90, South African Olympic swimmer.
  • René Bihel, 81, French football player.
  • Yu Jim-yuen, 92, Chinese opera singer and actor, heart attack.
  • Sabatino Moscati, 74, Italian archaeologist and linguist.
  • Helen Shaw, 100, American actress.
  • Vladimír Sommer, 76, Czech composer.
  • Derek Taylor, 65, English journalist, writer and record producer, throat cancer.

    9

  • Richie Ashburn, 70, American baseball player and broadcaster and member of the MLB Hall of Fame, heart attack.
  • Alvaro Banchi, 72, Italian Olympic rower.
  • Dick Beckner, 69, American gymnast and Olympian.
  • Rowland George, 92, British rower and Olympian.
  • John Hackett, 86, Australian-born British army general and painter.
  • Predrag Laković, 68, Yugoslavian/Serbian actor.
  • Walt Lautenbach, 74, American basketball player.
  • Alexandru Mari, 77, Romanian footballer.
  • Burgess Meredith, 89, American actor, Emmy winner, melanoma.

    10

  • Satish Chandra Agarwal, Indian politician.
  • Abraham Akaka, 80, American clergyman.
  • Richard Brandt, 86, American philosopher.
  • Mollie Dive, 84, Australian cricketer and scientist.
  • Jacques Leguerney, 90, French composer.
  • Kurt Loserth, 82, Austrian Olympic bobsledder.
  • George Schaefer, 76, American television and theatre director.
  • Fritz Von Erich, 68, American professional wrestler, cancer.

    11

  • Fernando Ayala, 77, Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer.
  • Mel Groomes, 70, American football player.
  • Camille Henry, 64, Canadian ice hockey player.
  • Iliya Kirchev, 64, Bulgarian football player and Olympian.
  • Matrika Prasad Koirala, 85, Prime Minister of Nepal.
  • Hugo B. Margáin, 84, Mexican economist, politician and diplomat.
  • Anatoli Polosin, 62, Russian football coach.
  • Margaret Scrivener, 75, Canadian politician
  • Xhevdet Shaqiri, 74, Albanian football player and coach.
  • Hannah Weiner, 68, American poet.

    12

  • Stig Anderson, 66, Swedish music manager and publisher, heart attack.
  • Leslie E. Brown, 77, United States Marine Corps aviator.
  • Elsa De Giorgi, 82, Italian actress and writer.
  • Leonard Maguire, 73, Scottish actor.
  • Judith Merril, 74, American-Canadian science fiction writer.
  • Eddie O'Toole, 76, American Olympic long-distance runner, heart attack.
  • Georges Valade, 75, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada.
  • Heorhiy Zhylin, 72, Ukrainian rower and Olympian.

    13

  • Anjaan, 67, Indian lyricist.
  • Paul Brechler, 86, American athletic director.
  • Roger O. Egeberg, 94, American medical educator and administrator.
  • Roger Frey, 84, French politician.
  • Georges Guétary, 82, French singer, dancer and actor, heart attack.
  • Kauko Helovirta, 72, Finnish film actor.
  • Giorgos Mitsibonas, 34, Greek football player, traffic collision.
  • Agnete Olsen, 87, Danish Olympic swimmer.
  • Margo Rose, 94, American puppeteer.
  • Donald Schön, 66, American philosopher and professor in urban planning.
  • Victor Szebehely, 76, Hungarian-American physicist.
  • Myra Tanner Weiss, 80, American trotskyist politician.

    14

  • Basri Dirimlili, 68, Turkish football player and Olympian.
  • Andrew Fountaine, 78, British far right activist.
  • C. Warren Hollister, 66, American author and historian.
  • Clyde Johnson, 80, American football player.
  • Donato Piazza, 67, Italian racing cyclist.

    15

  • Aleksanteri Ahola-Valo, 97, Finnish artist and architect.
  • Angel Balevski, 87, Bulgarian inventor and engineer.
  • Bulldog Brower, 63, American professional wrestler, complications from hip surgery.
  • Edna Mae Harris, 82, American actress and singer, heart attack.
  • Jim Kekeris, 73, American football player.
  • Thomas J. Parmley, 99, American physicist.
  • Hubert Petschnigg, 83, Austrian architect.
  • Gertrude Pitzinger, 93, German contralto.

    16

  • Barbara Cage, 55, Australian Olympic gymanst.
  • Terence Cooper, 64, British film actor.
  • James Milton Ham, 76, Canadian engineer and university official.
  • Helen Jepson, 92, American lyric soprano.
  • William N. Oatis, 83, American journalist, Alzheimer's disease.
  • Fred Robertson, 85, British-born Canadian ice hockey player.
  • Dušan Škvarenina, 57, Slovak Olympic cyclist.
  • Gerry Turpin, 72, English cinematographer.
  • José Valle, 77, Argentine football player and coach.

    17

  • Benjamin Atkins, 29, American serial killer and rapist, AIDS-related complications.
  • Anthony Franchini, 99, American guitarist.
  • Nelson G. Gross, 65, American politician, slashed and bludgeoned.
  • Brian Hall, 59, English actor, cancer.
  • Harry Jago, 84, Australian politician.
  • Walter Kremershof, 74, German Olympic ice hockey player.
  • Meena, 56, Indian actress.
  • Trevor Redmond, 70, New Zealand speedway rider.
  • Amanoyama Shizuo, 43, Japanese sumo wrestler.
  • Red Skelton, 84, American comedian, pneumonia.
  • Jan P. Syse, 66, Prime Minister of Norway, cerebral hemorrhage.

    18

  • Fernand Fayolle, 93, French racing cyclist.
  • Patricia Pulling, 49, American anti-role-playing games activist, lung cancer.
  • Walpola Rahula, 90, Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, scholar and writer.
  • Yehuda Sha'ari, 77, Israeli politician.
  • Ganesh Man Singh, 81, Nepali politician.
  • Seigo Tada, 75, Japanese founder of Goju-Ryu Seigokan Karatedo.
  • Jimmy Witherspoon, 77, American blues singer, cancer.

    19

  • Józef Bielawski, 87, Polish Arabist and scholar of Islam.
  • Bill Butland, 79, American baseball pitcher.
  • Moses ǁGaroëb, 55, Namibian politician and founding member of SWAPO.
  • Kathy Keeton, 58, American editor and publisher of Penthouse magazine, complications from surgery.
  • Jack May, 75, English actor.
  • Rich Mullins, 41, American Christian musician, traffic collision.
  • Ambar Roy, 52, Indian cricket player.