2017 deaths

Mary Elizabeth Smith (February 2, 1923 – November 12, 2017) was an American gossip columnist. She was known as "The Grand Dame of Dish". Beginning her career in radio in the 1950s, for a time she also anonymously wrote the "Cholly Knickerbocker" gossip column for the Hearst newspapers. In the 1960s and early 1970s, she was the entertainment editor for the magazines Cosmopolitan and Sports Illustrated. Between 1976 and 2009, she wrote a self-titled gossip column for newspapers including New York Newsday, the New York Daily News and the New York Post that was syndicated in 60 to 70 other newspapers. On television, she appeared on Fox, E!, and WNBC.

Georgette "Géori" Boué (16 October 1918 – 5 January 2017) was a French soprano, particularly associated with the French repertory, especially Marguérite, Thais and Salomé (Massenet). She was born in Toulouse. Following her career in France and other European centres, she was a teacher and "perceptive observer of the French operatic scene".

Father René Laurentin (French pronunciation: [ʁəne loʁɑ̃tɛ̃]; October 19, 1917 – September 10, 2017) was a French theologian. He is widely recognized as "one of the world’s foremost students" of Mariology and is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on topics including Marian apparitions such as Lourdes and Medjugorje; visionaries and mystics including Bernadette Soubirous, Thérèse de Lisieux, Catherine Labouré, and Yvonne Aimée de Malestroit; as well as biblical exegesis, theology, and Vatican II.

Frank Doran (13 April 1949 – 31 October 2017) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South from 1987 to 1992, when he lost his seat. He was re-elected in 1997 to Aberdeen Central, and most recently represented Aberdeen North. He was the husband of former Labour MP Dame Joan Ruddock.
He announced he would be standing down in 2015, saying "I don’t want to be wandering around here as a skeleton...I think that we need to allow younger people to come through.”

Pasquale Squitieri (27 November 1938 – 18 February 2017) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.

Roger LaVerne Smith (December 18, 1932 – June 4, 2017) was an American television and film actor, producer, and screenwriter. He starred in the television detective series 77 Sunset Strip and in the comedy series Mister Roberts. Smith went on to manage the career of Ann-Margret, his wife of 50 years.

Nancy Ledins (born William F. Griglak; July 27, 1932 – July 18, 2017) was an American Roman Catholic priest who came out as a transgender woman. At the time of her transition she was still considered a priest even after having resigned from official church roles, due to her never being returned to lay status. In this capacity, she is considered by some to be the first official woman priest in the history of the Catholic Church and is the first openly transgender Catholic priest.

Clancy Sigal (September 6, 1926 – July 16, 2017) was an American writer, and the author of dozens of essays and seven books, the best-known of which is the autobiographical novel Going Away (1961).

Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (27 August 1925 – 19 November 2017) was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1977 until he retired in 2001. As Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls from 2005 to 2009 he helped oversee important restoration work. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on 24 March 2006.

Edgar Herbert Smith Jr. (1934 – 2017) was an American convicted murderer sentenced to death for his 1957 killing of 15-year-old Victoria Ann Zielinski in Ramsey, New Jersey. On death row, Smith began corresponding with conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr., and gradually persuaded Buckley that he was innocent. With the help of an elite legal team retained by Buckley, Smith litigated his conviction through multiple court hearings and wrote a book proclaiming his innocence. In 1971, a federal judge vacated Smith's conviction and ordered a retrial. Smith then took a plea deal to time-served, resulting in his 1971 release. Five years later, Smith abducted and tried to kill another woman in San Diego, California. The victim survived and testified against him in court. During that proceeding Smith admitted killing Zielinski in 1957. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2017 at age 83.