![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Zhou Youguang in Beijing in 2011. Late in life, he became an outspoken critic of the Chinese government.
Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
Zhou Youguang
Died on January 14, 2017 at age 111
Mr. Zhou created the Pinyin system of Romanized Chinese, which vastly increased literacy in China and eased the agonies of foreigners studying the language.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.