# Deaths in March 1997
## Contents

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The following is a list of notable deaths in March 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 (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

## March 1997
### 1

* Stanislaus Joseph Brzana, 79, American bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.
* Hans Robert Jauss, 75, German academic.
* Martin Furnival Jones, 84, British Director General of MI5 (1965–1972).
* Monte Kennedy, 74, American baseball player.
* Václav Roziňák, 74, Czechoslovak ice hockey player.
* Annie Beatrice van der Biest Thielan Wetmore, 87, Dutch-American ornithologist.

### 2

* Yahaya Ahmad, 49, Malaysian businessman, helicopter crash.
* Abdel Azim Ashry, 85, Egyptian basketball player and referee.
* Judi Bari, 47, American environmentalist, feminist, and labor leader, breast cancer.
* Douglas Blackwood, 87, British publisher and fighter pilot during World War II.
* Horace Cutler, 84, British politician.
* Richard De Smet, 81, Belgian Jesuit priest, missionary and indologist.
* Amleto Frignani, 64, Italian football player.
* Herman H. Fussler, 82, American librarian, writer and editor.
* Albert Gazier, 88, French trade union leader and politician.
* Grete Heublein, 89, German track and field athlete and Olympian.
* Walter Leinweber, 89, German ice hockey player.
* J. Carson Mark, 83, Canadian-American mathematician, complications from a fall.
* Waldo Nelson, 98, American pediatrician, stroke.
* Vicente Parra, 66, Spanish actor, lung cancer.
* Wendell Thompson Perkins, 69, American painter.
* Martin Smith, 50, English rock drummer, internal bleeding.

### 3

* Bradford Angier, 86, American wilderness survivalist.
* Jascha Brodsky, 89, Russian-American violinist.
* Eric Edwards, Baron Chelmer, 82, English peer and solicitor.
* Harry Davis, 88, American baseball player.
* Lola Beer Ebner, 86, Israeli fashion designer.
* Billy Jurges, 88, American baseball player.
* Mulumba Lukoji, 53, Congolese politician and professor.
* William Edward McManus, 83, American prelate of the Catholic Church.
* Santiago Ojeda Pérez, 52, Spanish judoka.
* Erik Waaler, 94, Norwegian professor of medicine.

### 4

* Joe Baker-Cresswell, 96, English Royal Navy officer and aide-de-camp to King George VI.
* Roger Brown, 54, American basketball player, colon cancer.
* Leo Catozzo, 84, Italian film editor.
* Robert H. Dicke, 80, American astronomer and physicist.
* Stanley Fink, 61, American lawyer and politician, cancer.
* Edward Klabiński, 76, Polish racing cyclist.
* Robert Lampman, 76, American economist, lung cancer.
* Carey Loftin, 83, American actor and stuntman.
* Paul Préboist, 70, French actor.
* József Simándy, 80, Hungarian tenor.

### 5

* Zalman Abramov, 88, Israeli politician.
* Amjad Ali, 89, Pakistani politician and a civil servant.
* Samm Sinclair Baker, 87, American self-help writer.
* Ralph Bass, 85, American R&B record producer.
* Frank Brennan, 72, Scottish footballer.
* Jean Dréville, 90, French film director.
* William Roberts, 83, American screenwriter, respiratory failure.
* Edmund Brinsley Teesdale, 81, Hong Kong Colonial Secretary.

### 6

* Frank Anderson, 83, Australian rules football player.
* Rosalyn Boulter, 80, British film actress.
* Ed Furgol, 79, American golfer.
* Cheddi Jagan, 78, President of Guyana.
* Michael Manley, 72, Prime Minister of Jamaica (1972–1980; 1989–1992), prostate cancer.

### 7

* Wilfred Conwell Bain, 89, American music educator.
* Gösta Brännström, 70, Swedish sprinter and Olympian.
* Chuck Green, 77, American tap dancer.
* Martin Kippenberger, 44, German artist and sculptor, liver cancer.
* Agnieszka Osiecka, 60, Polish poet, writer, film director and journalist, cancer.
* Edward Mills Purcell, 84, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, respiratory failure.
* Kim Yale, 43, American comic book writer and editor (Suicide Squad, Deadshot, Sgt. Rock), breast cancer.

### 8

* Leon Danielian, 76, American ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer.
* Masuo Ikeda, 63, Japanese painter, printmaker, illustrator, sculptor, ceramist, novelist, and film director from Nagano Prefecture.
* Gershon Liebman, 92, French rabbi and Holocaust survivor.
* Lefter Millo, 30, Albanian football player, traffic collision.
* Alexander Salkind, 75, French-Mexican film producer (Superman).
* Alfred Sheinwold, 85, American bridge player and writer, stroke.

### 9

* The Notorious B.I.G., 24, American rapper ("Juicy", "Big Poppa", "Mo Money Mo Problems"), shot.
* Jean-Dominique Bauby, 44, French journalist and author (Elle magazine), pneumonia during locked-in syndrome.
* John Boyd, 70, United States Air Force fighter pilot and military strategist, cancer.
* Robert B. Leighton, 77, American experimental physicist.
* John S. McKiernan, 85, American politician.
* Terry Nation, 66, Welsh television writer (Doctor Who), emphysema.
* Ray Prochaska, 77, American gridiron football player and coach.
* Bezawada Gopala Reddy, 89, Indian politician.
* Alice Sommerlath, 90, Brazilian-born entrepreneur and mother of Queen Silvia of Sweden.
* Veronica Wedgwood, 86, English historian.
* Dwight Locke Wilbur, 93, American medical doctor and president of the A.M.A.

### 10

* Jimmy Airlie, 60, Scottish trade unionist, cancer.
* LaVern Baker, 67, American R&B singer, cardiovascular disease.
* Raymond Bass, 87, American Navy rear admiral, gymnast and Olympian.
* Stan Drake, 75, American cartoonist.
* Yorozuya Kinnosuke, 64, Japanese kabuki actor, pneumonia, laryngeal cancer.
* David Moroder, 66, Italian luger and sculptor.
* Imam Mustafayev, 87, Azerbaijani communist politician.
* Ossie O'Brien, 68, British politician.
* Wesley Ramey, 87, American boxer.
* Ghulam Rasool Santosh, 68, Indian painter and poet.
* Johannes Theodor Suhr, 101, Danish Roman Catholic bishop.
* Wilf Wooller, 84, Welsh cricketer, rugby player, and journalist.
* Hideo Ōba, 87, Japanese film director and screenwriter.

### 11

* Lars Ahlin, 81, Swedish author and aesthetician.
* Robert Browning, 83, Scottish Byzantinist.
* Stefan Fernholm, 37, Swedish discus thrower, shot putter, and Olympian.
* Hugh Lawson, 61, American jazz pianist, cancer.
* Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, 80, Indian poet, playwright, film director and actor, kidney failure.
* Hugo Weisgall, 84, American composer and conductor.

### 12

* Shamsul-hasan Shams Barelvi, 79-80, Pakistani Islamic scholar.
* Hendrik Brugmans, 90, Dutch academic and linguist.
* Ernst-Georg Drünkler, 76, German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II.
* Bertram Myron Gross, 84, American social scientist, congestive heart failure.
* William Hare, 5th Earl of Listowel, 90, Anglo-Irish peer and Labour politician.
* Wally Wolf, 66, American swimmer, water polo player, and Olympic champion.

### 13

* Ronald Fraser, 66, English actor, haemorrhage.
* Horace Kolimba, 57, Tanzanian politician.
* Leo O'Brien, 89, Australian cricket player and sportsman.
* Joe Repko, 76, American football coach and player.

### 14

* Jurek Becker, 59, Polish-German writer, film author and GDR dissident, colorectal cancer.
* Joseph Fuchs, 97, American classical violinist.
* Alija Isaković, 65, Bosnian writer, publicist, and playwright.
* Jim McConn, 68, American politician and mayor of Houston, Texas.
* Nicolas Morn, 65, Luxembourgish cyclist and Olympian.
* Terence O'Sullivan, 73, Irish Fianna Fáil politician.
* Veerendra Patil, 73, Indian politician.
* Fred Zinnemann, 89, Austrian-American film director (From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons, High Noon), Oscar winner (1954), heart attack.

### 15

* C. Arulampalam, 88, Sri Lankan Tamil politician.
* Gail Davis, 71, American actress (Annie Oakley) and singer, cancer.
* Victor Dumitrescu, 72, Romanian football player.
* Svend Wiig Hansen, 74, Danish sculptor and painter.
* Vernon Harrell, 56, American R&B singer and songwriter.
* Kåre Holt, 80, Norwegian author.
* Ed Kullman, 73, Canadian ice hockey player.
* Dorab Patel, 72, Pakistani jurist and lawmaker, leukemia.
* Victor Vasarely, 90, Hungarian-French artist, cancer.

### 16

* Berta Bojetu, 51, Slovene writer, poet and actress.
* Paal Frisvold, 89, Norwegian general.
* Leda Gloria, 88, Italian actress.
* Harry Holgate, 63, Australian politician and Premier of Tasmania, cancer.
* Zvonko Monsider, 76, Croatian football goalkeeper.
* John Montague Stow, 85, British colonial official.
* Star Stowe, 40, American model and Playboy centerfold, strangled.
* John White, 80, American rower and Olympian.

### 17

* Prem Jayanth, 64, Sri Lankan actor and film producer.
* Fritz Moravec, 74, Austrian mountaineer and author.
* Charles G. Overberger, 76, American chemist, Parkinson's disease.
* Ferenc Sipos, 64, Hungarian football player and trainer.
* Jermaine Stewart, 39, American R&B singer, AIDS-related liver cancer.

### 18

* Erik de Mauny, 76, English journalist and author.
* Jean Fievez, 86, Belgian football player.
* Wilbur Knorr, 51, American historian of mathematics, melanoma.
* Ilse Schwidetzky, 89, German anthropologist.

### 19

* José Crespo, 96, Spanish film actor.
* Willem de Kooning, 92, Dutch abstract expressionist artist, Alzheimer's disease.
* Jacques Foccart, 83, French businessman and politician.
* Eugène Guillevic, 89, French poet.
* Purnendu Pattrea, 66, Indian poet, writer, illustrator and film director.
* Claude Pierson, 66, French film director, writer and producer.
* Shoukry Sarhan, 72, Egyptian actor.
* Mac Van Valkenburg, 75, American electrical engineer and university professor.

### 20

* Ronnie Barron, 53, American actor and musician, heart attack.
* Jean Engstrom, 76, American actress.
* Carlo Fassi, 67, Italian figure skater and coach.
* Britt G. Hallqvist, 83, Swedish hymnwriter, poet, and translator.
* Marino Marini, 72, Italian musician.
* V. S. Pritchett, 96, British writer and literary critic.
* Tony Zale, 83, American boxer, Alzheimer's disease.

### 21

* Wilbert Awdry, 85, British children's author and The Railway Series creator.
* Charles Booth, 72, British diplomat.
* John Nemechek, 27, American NASCAR race car driver, complications from racing accident.
* Pekka Parikka, 57, Finnish film director and screenwriter.

### 22

* Lauritz Royal Christensen, 82, American epidemiologist.
* Mary Peters Fieser, 87, American chemist.
* James G. Stewart, 89, American sound engineer.
* Harry Thode, 86, Canadian geochemist and nuclear chemist.

### 23

* Timothy Joseph Harrington, 78, American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.
* Hugh Lawson, 85, British politician.
* Pyotr Lushev, 73, Soviet Army general during the Cold War.
* Pearson Mwanza, 29, Zambian football player.

### 24

* Martin Caidin, 69, American author, screenwriter, and aviator, cancer.
* U. Alexis Johnson, 88, American diplomat, pneumonia.
* Bill Miller, 69, American professional wrestler, heart attack.
* Roberto Sánchez Vilella, 84, Governor of Puerto Rico (1965–1969).

### 25

* Baltazar, 71, Brazilian footballer.
* Stan Coster, 66, Australian country music singer-songwriter.
* Rosario Granados, 72, Argentine-Mexican film actress, heart attack.
* Pedro Medina, 39, Cuban refugee and murder convict, execution by electric chair.
* Norm Ryan, 86, Australian politician.
* C. J. F. Williams, 66, British philosopher, cardiac arrest.

### 26

* Norman Alexander, 89, New Zealand physicist.
* Marshall Applewhite, 65, leader of the Heaven's Gate cult group, suicide by asphyxiation.
* Otto John, 88, German defector and spy.
* Hartmut Losch, 53, German athlete.
* George Post, 90, American watercolorist and art educator, pneumonia.
* Nina Mason Pulliam, 90, American journalist, author, and civic leader, complications from respiratory infection.
* Dickie Williams, 72, Welsh rugby player.

### 27

* George Malcolm Brown, 71, English geologist.
* David A. Clarke, 53, American civil-rights worker, attorney, and politician, PCNSL.
* Bob Dillabough, 55, Canadian ice hockey player.
* Lane Dwinell, 90, American manufacturer and politician, heart failure.
* Hugh Horner, 72, Canadian physician and politician, heart attack.
* Charles Lillard, 53, American-Canadian poet and historian.
* Ella Maillart, 94, Swiss adventurer, travel writer and photographer.
* Benno Premsela, 76, Dutch designer, visual artist and art collector.
* Émile Stijnen, 89, Belgian footballer.

### 28

* Arthur Arntzen, 90, Norwegian politician.
* Lesley Cunliffe, 51, American journalist and writer, stomach cancer.
* Claro Duany, 79, Cuban baseball player.
* Tai Kanbara, 98, Japanese poet, painter, author, art critic and Japanese futurism pioneer, heart failure.

### 29

* George William Gregory Bird, 80, British medical doctor, researcher and haematologist, renal failure.
* Hans-Walter Eigenbrodt, 61, German football player.
* Wilhelm Friedrich de Gaay Fortman, 85, Dutch politician and jurist.
* Finn Høffding, 98, Danish composer.
* Aleksandr Ivanov, 68, Soviet football player.
* Pupul Jayakar, 81, Indian cultural activist and writer.
* Norman Pirie, 89, British biochemist and virologist.
* Ellen Pollock, 94, British actress.
* Hans Quest, 81, German actor and film director, cancer.
* Anthony Roberts, 41, American basketball player, shot.
* Eddie Ryder, 74, American actor, writer, and television director.
* Ruth Sager, 79, American geneticist, bladder cancer.
* Gordon Stephenson, 88, British-Australian town planner and architect.
* Edmundo Pisano Valdés, 77, Chilean plant ecologist, botanist and agronomist, stomach cancer.

### 30

* Jack Bernhard, 82, American film and television director.
* Bill Smith, 62, American baseball player.
* Jon Stone, 64, American writer, director and producer, ALS.
* Maria Śliwka, 61, Polish volleyball player.
* Tadeusz Żenczykowski, 90, Polish lawyer and political activist.

### 31

* Eugenie Anderson, 87, American diplomat.
* Friedrich Hund, 101, German physicist.
* John Norman Davidson Kelly, 87, British theologian and academic.
* Marvin Liebman, 73, American activist and gay rights advocate.
* Dorothy Liu, 62, Hong Kong pro-Beijing politician and lawyer, pancreatic cancer.
* Stephen Kalong Ningkan, 76, Malaysian politician.
* Lyman Spitzer, 82, American theoretical physicist and astronomer, heart disease.