William Nathan Oatis (January 4, 1914 – September 16, 1997) was an American journalist who gained international attention when he was charged with espionage by the communist Czechoslovakia in 1951. He was subsequently jailed until 1953.
Richard Sumner Cowan (January 23, 1921 – November 17, 1997) was an American botanist.
Peter Carruthers (1935 – August 3, 1997) was an American physicist best known for leading the theoretical division of Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1973 until 1980.
Jack Kennedy (March 10, 1922 – October 16, 1997) was an American actor and screenwriter. He was known for playing Dion Patrick in the American western television series The Californians.
Taylor Drysdale (January 14, 1914 – February 9, 1997) was an American competition swimmer and swimming coach. Drysdale represented the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He competed in the men's 100-meter backstroke, and finished fourth in the event final with a time of 1:09.4.Drysdale attended the University of Michigan, where he was a member of the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competition from 1932 to 1935. During his college swimming career, he won three individual NCAA national championships in the 150-yard backstroke (1932, 1934, 1935), and was also a member of Michigan's NCAA-winning teams in the 300-yard medley relay (1932, 1935) and 400-yard freestyle relay (1935).He later earned master's degrees in nuclear physics and mathematics from the University of Michigan, joined the U.S. military, worked on the Manhattan Project, and retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel. He was also the manager of the 1956 U.S. Olympic swim team.Drysdale was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Pioneer Swimmer" in 1994. He died in 1997; he was 83 years old.
Bernard Vonnegut (August 29, 1914 – April 25, 1997) was an American atmospheric scientist credited with discovering that silver iodide could be used effectively in cloud seeding to produce snow and rain. He was the older brother of American novelist Kurt Vonnegut.
Hugo Gunckel Lüer (August 10, 1901 – July 17, 1997) was a Chilean pharmacist, botanist, and university professor.
Fidel Velázquez Sánchez (May 12, 1900 – June 21, 1997) was the preeminent Mexican union leader of the 20th century. In 1936 he was one of the original founders, along with Vicente Lombardo Toledano, of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the national labor federation most closely associated with the ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He replaced Lombardo as the leader of the CTM in 1941, then expelled him from it in 1948. He led the CTM, which grew increasingly corrupt and conservative, until his death in 1997.
Joseph Probst (1911–1997) was a Luxembourg painter who, in 1954, was one of the founder members of the Iconomaques group of abstract painters who opposed figurative art.
Karen Boccalero (May 19, 1933 – June 24, 1997) was an American nun, fine artist, and founder and former director of Self-Help Graphics & Art.