| 142261 | December 17 | Death | 1940 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and educator (b. 1860) |
| 142262 | December 17 | Death | 1942 – Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English politician (b. 1895) |
| 142263 | December 17 | Death | 1947 – Christos Tsigiridis, Greek engineer (b. 1877) |
| 142264 | December 17 | Death | 1957 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1893) |
| 142265 | December 17 | Death | 1962 – Thomas Mitchell, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1892) |
| 142266 | December 17 | Death | 1964 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883) |
| 142267 | December 17 | Death | 1967 – Harold Holt, Australian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908) |
| 142268 | December 17 | Death | 1967 – Jack Perrin, American actor and stuntman (b. 1896) |
| 142269 | December 17 | Death | 1970 – Oliver Waterman Larkin, American historian, author, and educator (d. 1970) |
| 142270 | December 17 | Death | 1978 – Don Ellis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1934) |
| 142271 | December 17 | Death | 1981 – Antiochos Evangelatos, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1903) |
| 142272 | December 17 | Death | 1981 – Ada Kramm, Norwegian actress (b. 1899) |
| 142273 | December 17 | Death | 1982 – Homer S. Ferguson, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1889) |
| 142274 | December 17 | Death | 1986 – Guillermo Cano Isaza, Colombian journalist (b. 1925) |
| 142275 | December 17 | Death | 1987 – Linda Wong, American porn actress (b. 1951) |
| 142276 | December 17 | Death | 1987 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-American author and poet (b. 1903) |
| 142277 | December 17 | Death | 1992 – Günther Anders, German journalist and philosopher (b. 1902) |
| 142278 | December 17 | Death | 1992 – Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909) |
| 142279 | December 17 | Death | 1998 – Allan D'Arcangelo, American painter (b. 1930) |
| 142280 | December 17 | Death | 1999 – Rex Allen, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1920) |
| 142281 | December 17 | Death | 1999 – Grover Washington, Jr., American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1943) |
| 142282 | December 17 | Death | 1999 – C. Vann Woodward, American historian and academic (b. 1908) |
| 142283 | December 17 | Death | 2002 – K. W. Devanayagam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 10th Sri Lankan Minister of Justice (b. 1910) |
| 142284 | December 17 | Death | 2002 – James Hazeldine, English actor and director (b. 1947) |
| 142285 | December 17 | Death | 2003 – Ed Devereaux, Australian-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1925) |
| 142286 | December 17 | Death | 2003 – Otto Graham, American football player and coach (b. 1921) |
| 142287 | December 17 | Death | 2003 – Alan Tilvern, English actor (b. 1918) |
| 142288 | December 17 | Death | 2004 – Tom Wesselmann, American painter and sculptor (b. 1931) |
| 142289 | December 17 | Death | 2005 – Jack Anderson, American journalist and author (b. 1922) |
| 142290 | December 17 | Death | 2005 – Marc Favreau, Canadian actor and poet (b. 1929) |