page_title: 2017 in the United States
section_title: January
hierarchical_section_title: 2017 in the United States / Deaths / January
caption_attribution_description: English: Author William Peter Blatty inside of his home office in 2009.
context_page_description: Events in the year 2017 in the United States.
context_section_description: January 1
  Jewel Plummer Cobb, biologist, cancer researcher, and university president (b. 1924)
  Jeremy Stone, scientist and activist (b. 1935)
  Sylvester Uphus, farmer and politician (b. 1927)
  January 2
  Albert Brewer, politician; 47th Governor of Alabama (1968–1971) (b. 1928)
  Richard Machowicz, U.S. Navy SEAL and television personality (b. 1965)
  Daryl Spencer, baseball player (b. 1928)
  January 3
  Martin Brandtner, Marine Corps general (b. 1938)
  Charles J. Colgan, businessman and politician (b. 1926)
  J. Dewey Daane, economist (b. 1918)
  George M. Dennison, university president (b. 1935)
  Rosemary Stevenson, baseball player (b. 1936)
  January 4
  Willie Evans, football player (b. 1937)
  Bruce Hugo, politician (b. 1945)
  Carl E. Misch, prosthodontist (b. 1947)
  Art Pennington, baseball player (b. 1923)
  January 5
  Paul Goble, English-born author and illustrator (b. 1933)
  Stanley Russ, politician (b. 1930)
  John Wightman, politician (b. 1938)
  January 6
  Audrey Grevious, civil rights activist (b. 1930)
  Greg Jelks, baseball player (b. 1961)
  Les Lazarowitz, sound mixer (b. 1941)
  Sylvester Potts, American singer and composer (b. 1938)
  Bob Sadowski, baseball player (b. 1937)
  Tilikum, American-held orca (b. ca. 1981)
  Francine York, actress (b. 1930)
  January 7
  Bill Champion baseball player (b. 1947)
  John Deely, philosopher and semiotician (b. 1942)
  Nat Hentoff, music critic, journalist, historian, and activist (b. 1925)
  Eddie Kamae, musician and film producer (b. 1927)
  Betty Lasky, film historian (b. 1922)
  Mildred Meacham, baseball player (b. 1924)
  Murray Ryan, politician (b. 1922)
  Michael Scanlan, Roman Catholic priest and university administrator (b. 1931)
  January 8
  Buddy Bregman, composer, arranger, conductor, and producer (b. 1930)
  Jackie Brown, baseball player (b. 1943)
  James C. Christensen, fantasy artist (b. 1942)
  Miriam Goldberg, newspaper publisher (b. 1916)
  Mary Ann Green, tribal leader and politician (b. 1964)
  Roy Innis, civil rights activist (b. 1934)
  Pioneer Cabin Tree, iconic tree in California
  Eli Zelkha, Iranian-born entrepreneur (b. 1950)
  January 9
  Rodney H. Brady, businessman and college president (b. 1933)
  Charles Bragg, artist (b. 1931)
  Crazy Toones, hip-hop record producer and DJ (b. 1971)
  Patrick Flores, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1929)
  John Sailhamer, Evangelical Old Testament scholar (b. 1946)
  Warren Allen Smith, humanist and gay rights activist (b. 1921)
  Timothy Well, professional wrestler (b. 1961)
  January 10
  Hiag Akmakjian, 91, author, painter and photographer (b. 1926)
  Steve Fryar, 63, rodeo performer (b. 1953)
  Buddy Greco, jazz and pop singer and pianist (b. 1926)
  Steven McDonald, police detective (b. 1957)
  Oliver Smithies, English-born geneticist and Nobel laureate (b. 1925)
  January 11
  Tommy Allsup, rockabilly guitarist (b. 1931)
  Henry Foner, social activist (b. 1919)
  Conrad Hilberry, poet (b. 1928)
  Victor Lownes, publishing executive and film producer (b. 1928)
  Akio Takamori, Japanese-born sculptor (b. 1950)
  January 12
  William Peter Blatty, novelist and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  Milton Metz, radio and television personality (b. 1921)
  Frank Spellman, weightlifter (b. 1922)
  January 13
  Hans Berliner, German-born computer scientist and chess player (b. 1929)
  Dick Gautier, actor, comedian, singer, and caricaturist (b. 1931)
  Alan Jabbour, musician and folklorist (b. 1942)
  David Modell, businessman and NFL executive (b. 1960)
  Nicodemo Scarfo, mob boss (b. 1929)
  January 14
  Alex Jones, Roman Catholic deacon (b. 1941)
  Kevin Starr, historian (b. 1940)
  January 15
  George Beall, attorney (b. 1937)
  Ciel Bergman, painter (b. 1938)
  Vicki Lansky, author and publisher (b. 1942)
  Eddie Long, Baptist pastor (b. 1953)
  David Poythress, politician (b. 1943)
  Dale Smith, rodeo performer (b. 1928)
  Jimmy Snuka, Fijian-born professional wrestler (b. 1943)
  Greg Trooper, singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1956)
  January 16
  Eugene Cernan, aviator and astronaut (b. 1934)
  William A. Hilliard, journalist (b. 1927)
  Dan O'Brien Sr., baseball executive (b. 1929)
  Phyllis Harrison-Ross, psychiatrist (b. 1936)
  Charles "Bobo" Shaw, jazz drummer (b. 1947)
  Steve W
caption: William Peter Blatty
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "683", "Image ImageLength": "949", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2017:03:09 13:08:55", "Image Artist": "J.T. Blatty", "Image Copyright": "JT Blatty/www.jtblatty.com", "Image ExifOffset": "348", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1066", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5798", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:04:10 16:49:41", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:04:10 16:49:41", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "209759/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "22", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "468", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "650", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "51", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "3029884", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[17, 55, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "17.0-55.0 mm f/2.8"}