diff --git a/kallithea/controllers/admin/repo_groups.py b/kallithea/controllers/admin/repo_groups.py
--- a/kallithea/controllers/admin/repo_groups.py
+++ b/kallithea/controllers/admin/repo_groups.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class RepoGroupsController(BaseControlle
                 "group_name": repo_group_name(repo_gr.group_name, children_groups),
                 "desc": webutils.escape(repo_gr.group_description),
                 "repos": repo_count,
-                "owner": h.person(repo_gr.owner),
+                "owner": repo_gr.owner.username,
                 "action": repo_group_actions(repo_gr.group_id, repo_gr.group_name,
                                              repo_count)
             })
diff --git a/kallithea/controllers/admin/user_groups.py b/kallithea/controllers/admin/user_groups.py
--- a/kallithea/controllers/admin/user_groups.py
+++ b/kallithea/controllers/admin/user_groups.py
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class UserGroupsController(BaseControlle
                 "desc": webutils.escape(user_gr.user_group_description),
                 "members": len(user_gr.members),
                 "active": h.boolicon(user_gr.users_group_active),
-                "owner": h.person(user_gr.owner.username),
+                "owner": user_gr.owner.username,
                 "action": user_group_actions(user_gr.users_group_id, user_gr.users_group_name)
             })
 
diff --git a/kallithea/lib/helpers.py b/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
--- a/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
+++ b/kallithea/lib/helpers.py
@@ -404,12 +404,8 @@ def email_or_none(author):
 
 
 def person(author, show_attr="username"):
-    """Find the user identified by 'author', return one of the users attributes,
+    """Find the user identified by 'author' string, return one of the users attributes,
     default to the username attribute, None if there is no user"""
-    # if author is already an instance use it for extraction
-    if isinstance(author, db.User):
-        return getattr(author, show_attr)
-
     value = user_attr_or_none(author, show_attr)
     if value is not None:
         return value
diff --git a/kallithea/model/repo.py b/kallithea/model/repo.py
--- a/kallithea/model/repo.py
+++ b/kallithea/model/repo.py
@@ -116,8 +116,6 @@ class RepoModel(object):
         from tg import request
         from tg import tmpl_context as c
 
-        import kallithea.lib.helpers as h
-
         def repo_lnk(name, rtype, rstate, private, fork_of):
             return _render('repo_name', name, rtype, rstate, private, fork_of,
                            short_name=short_name)
@@ -178,7 +176,7 @@ class RepoModel(object):
                 "last_changeset": last_rev(repo.repo_name, cs_cache),
                 "last_rev_raw": cs_cache.get('revision'),
                 "desc": desc(repo.description),
-                "owner": h.person(repo.owner),
+                "owner": repo.owner.username,
                 "state": state(repo.repo_state),
                 "rss": rss_lnk(repo.repo_name),
                 "atom": atom_lnk(repo.repo_name),
@@ -186,8 +184,7 @@ class RepoModel(object):
             if admin:
                 row.update({
                     "action": repo_actions(repo.repo_name),
-                    "owner": owner_actions(repo.owner_id,
-                                           h.person(repo.owner))
+                    "owner": owner_actions(repo.owner_id, repo.owner.username)
                 })
             repos_data.append(row)
 
diff --git a/kallithea/templates/admin/gists/index.html b/kallithea/templates/admin/gists/index.html
--- a/kallithea/templates/admin/gists/index.html
+++ b/kallithea/templates/admin/gists/index.html
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
           <div class="gist-item clearfix">
             ${h.gravatar_div(gist.owner.email, size=28)}
             <span title="${gist.owner.full_contact}" class="user">
-                <b>${h.person(gist.owner.full_contact)}</b> /
+                <b>${gist.owner.username}</b> /
                 <b><a href="${h.url('gist',gist_id=gist.gist_access_id)}">gist: ${gist.gist_access_id}</a></b>
             </span>
             <div>
diff --git a/kallithea/templates/admin/repo_groups/repo_group_edit_advanced.html b/kallithea/templates/admin/repo_groups/repo_group_edit_advanced.html
--- a/kallithea/templates/admin/repo_groups/repo_group_edit_advanced.html
+++ b/kallithea/templates/admin/repo_groups/repo_group_edit_advanced.html
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     (_('Total repositories'), c.repo_group.repositories_recursive_count, ''),
     (_('Children groups'), c.repo_group.children.count(), ''),
     (_('Created on'), h.fmt_date(c.repo_group.created_on), ''),
-    (_('Owner'), h.person(c.repo_group.owner), ''),
+    (_('Owner'), c.repo_group.owner.username, ''),
  ]
 %>
 %for dt, dd, tt in elems:
diff --git a/kallithea/templates/admin/user_groups/user_group_edit_advanced.html b/kallithea/templates/admin/user_groups/user_group_edit_advanced.html
--- a/kallithea/templates/admin/user_groups/user_group_edit_advanced.html
+++ b/kallithea/templates/admin/user_groups/user_group_edit_advanced.html
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  elems = [
     (_('Members'), len(c.group_members_obj), ''),
     (_('Created on'), h.fmt_date(c.user_group.created_on), ''),
-    (_('Owner'), h.person(c.user_group.owner), ''),
+    (_('Owner'), c.user_group.owner.username, ''),
     ]
 %>
 %for dt, dd, tt in elems: