2017 deaths

John Steven "Jay" Kordich (August 27, 1923 – May 27, 2017) was an American author and advocate of juicing and juice fasting. Kordich was best known as the "Juiceman" and the "Father of Juicing" in the United States.

Charles Coffin Sims (April 14, 1937 – October 23, 2017) was an American mathematician best known for his work in group theory. Together with Donald G. Higman he discovered the Higman–Sims group, one of the sporadic groups. The permutation group software developed by Sims also led to the proof of existence of the Lyons group (also known as the Lyons–Sims group) and the O'Nan group (also known as the O'Nan–Sims group).
Sims was born and raised in Elkhart, Indiana, and received his B.S. from the University of Michigan. He did his graduate studies at Harvard University, where he was a student of John G. Thompson and received his Ph.D. degree in 1963. In his thesis, he enumerated p-groups, giving sharp asymptotic upper and lower bounds. Sims is one of the founders of computational group theory and is the eponym of the Schreier–Sims algorithm. He was a faculty member at the Department of Mathematics at Rutgers University from 1965 to 2007. During that period he served, in particular, as Department Chair (1982–84) and Associate Provost for Computer Planning (1984–87). Sims retired from Rutgers in 2007 and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida.In 2012, he became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Gilbert "Gib" Ford (September 14, 1931 – January 10, 2017) was an American basketball player and business executive, who competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics as part of the American basketball team, which won the gold medal. Born in Tulia, Texas, he played college basketball at the University of Texas. He worked for thirty-five years at Converse, Inc., ultimately becoming the company's chairman and CEO.
Ford played for Amarillo High School. In 1950 he was a Texas High School All State player and a participant in the Texas High School All Star Game. His name is enshrined in the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. Following High School, Ford played basketball for the University of Texas from 1950 to 1954, and was co-captain of the team his senior year, when the team was a co-champion of the Southwest Conference. He was named to various All-SWC teams and took part in the 1954 Shrine East/West College All Star Game in Kansas City. In 1986, he was inducted into the University of Texas Longhorn Hall of Honor.After graduation from Texas in 1954, where he was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, Ford was a starter for the famous Phillips 66 Oilers, which won the National AAU Championship in 1955, and the National Industrial Basketball League Championship in 1955 and 1958. While serving in the Air Force, Ford played on the 1956 All Air Force Team and the All Armed Forces Team, which qualified for the 1956 Olympic trials.
In August 1994, Ford was appointed chairman of the board and CEO of Converse, Inc. He retired December 1, 1996 after 35 years of service with the company. Ford first joined Converse as a member of the sales staff in 1961, and served in a number of executive capacities before becoming president of the company in 1986.
Ford was affiliated with several sporting goods and footwear manufacturers' organizations. He served two terms, 1982–85 and 1991–93, as the chairman of the board of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA). He was instrumental in creating the industry's first Super Show in 1986, the world's largest sporting goods trade show. He also was a member of the boards of directors of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, the Two/Ten Foundation, the Footwear Industries of America, the Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association, the New England Sports Hall of Fame, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He served a six-year term as a member of the board of trustees for Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Marge Calhoun (20 March 1926 – 2 September 2017) was an American surfer. She was the first woman world champion surfer when she won the Makaha International competition on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

Robert Kafka Lehrer (March 13, 1929; Los Angeles-January 20, 2017; New York City) was a stage, motion picture and television actor.

Luis Pércovich Roca (14 July 1931 – 23 April 2017) was a Peruvian politician. Pércovich served as the President of the Congress of the Republic of Peru from July 1981 to July 1982. He served as Prime Minister of Peru from 14 October 1984 to 28 July 1985.

Kate Murtagh (October 29, 1920 – September 10, 2017) was an American actress and singer-comedian, a native of Los Angeles, California.

Betty Lasky (October 11, 1922 – January 7, 2017) was an American film historian and author.

Harry Pregerson (October 13, 1923 – November 25, 2017) was a United States circuit judge appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Pregerson was regarded as one of the judiciary's most liberal judges, attracting both praise and criticism for his insistence on placing his conscience above court precedent.

Earl Raymond Hagaman (12 September 1925 – 25 May 2017) was an American-born New Zealand hotel operator.