Deaths on July 17

Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player (b. 1971)

Michel Breistroff (February 5, 1971 – July 17, 1996) was a French professional ice hockey defenceman.Breistroff was born in Roubaix, France. A graduate in anthropology from Harvard University, he died at 25 in the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, New York. He was playing professional ice hockey for French league team Gothiques d'Amiens at the time of his death. He also played with the France national team during the 1996 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships in Vienna.

As a passenger on TWA Flight 800, he was killed when the plane exploded shortly after takeoff in 1996. His then-fiancée, Heidi Snow, subsequently created AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services ("ACCESS"), an American nonprofit support group, based in New York City, which helps surviving family members of aircraft crash victims.