Deaths in March 1988

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The following is a list of notable deaths in March 1988.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

March 1988

1

• Joe Besser, 80, American actor, comedian and musician, heart failure. ^[1]
• Tommy Breen, 75, Irish international footballer.
• George B. Harper, 69, American politician, member of the New Jersey Senate.
• Yoshi Katō, 75, Japanese stage and film actor.
• Luis Márquez, 62, Puerto Rican Major League baseballer, murdered.
• Tommy Potter, 69, American jazz double bassist.
• Jean Le Poulain, 63, French stage actor and director. ^[2]

2

• Raymond Hewitt, 47, American civil rights activist, leader of the Black Panther Party, heart attack.
• Harry Lundahl, 82, Swedish international footballer and manager.
• Thomas Vezzetti, 59–60, American politician, mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, heart attack. ^[3]

3

• Harold Langley, 84, British triple jumper and Olympian.
• Henryk Szeryng, 69, Polish-Mexican violinist, cerebral hemorrhage. ^[4]
• Lois Wilson, 93, American silent-screen actress, pneumonia. ^[5]
• Sewall Wright, 98, American geneticist.

4

• James Peter Davis, 83, American Roman Catholic bishop. ^[6]
• Bobby Etheridge, 54, English footballer and first-class cricketer.
• J. Brooke Mosley, 72, American bishop.
• Franco Scalamandré, 89, Italian-American textile designer, co-founder of Scalamandré Inc.

5

• Ron Coe, 91, English professional cyclist.
• Santosh Dutta, 62, Bengali actor.
• Lewis J. Fields, 78, American lieutenant general in U.S. Marine Corps.
• János Németh, 81, Hungarian water polo player and Olympic gold medalist.
• Alberto Olmedo, 54, Argentine comedian and actor, fall from building.
• Mathilde Pincus, 70–71, American music supervisor. ^[7]
• Rudolph Schaeffer, 101, American arts educator and artist.

6

• Jeanne Aubert, 88, French singer and actress.
• Mairéad Farrell, 31, member of Provisional Irish Republican Army, shot by British army.
• Joan Hassall, 82, English wood engraver and book illustrator.
• Daniel McCann, 30, member of Provisional Irish Republican Army, shot by British army.
• Dick Ricketts, 54, American Major League baseballer and NBA basketballer, leukemia.
• Seán Savage, 23, member of Provisional Irish Republican Army, shot by British army.

7

• Edmund Berkeley, 79, American computer scientist.
• Guido Celano, 83, Italian actor, voice actor and film director.
• Divine, 42, American singer, actor and drag queen, heart failure. ^[8]
• Martin Finn, 70, Irish politician.
• Robert Livingston, 83, American film actor. ^[9]
• Joe Loco, 66, Puerto Rican Latin jazz and pop pianist and arranger.
• Prakash Mehrotra, 63, Indian politician.
• Olof Stahre, 78, Swedish Army officer, horse rider and Olympic gold medalist.

8

• Gordon Carpenter, 68, American basketballer and Olympic gold medalist.
• Amar Singh Chamkila, 27, Indian singer and musician, gunned down.
• Ken Colyer, 59, English jazz trumpeter and cornetist.
• Werner Hartmann, 76, German physicist, complications after prostate surgery.
• Frank Osborne, 91, South-African-English international footballer.
• Lala Abdul Rashid, 65, Pakistani hockey player and Olympic gold medalist.

9

• Ronald Cove-Smith, 88, English international rugby union player, vice-president of British Medical Association.
• Milton Galamison, 64, American Presbyterian minister. ^[10]
• Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 83, West German politician, Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany. ^[11]
• M. E. Aldrich Rope, 96, English stained-glass artist.
• M. B. Sreenivasan, 62, Indian music director, heart attack.

10

• Glenn Cunningham, 78, American middle-distance runner and Olympic medalist. ^[12]
• Andy Gibb, 30, English singer, songwriter and performer, myocarditis. ^[13]
• Svetislav Glišović, 74, Yugoslavian international footballer and manager.
• Phạm Hùng, 75, Vietnamese politician, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. ^[14]
• Nikolay Karakulov, 69, Soviet sprinter and European champion.
• Abdul Khaliq, 54, Pakistani sprinter.
• Jock Semple, 84, Scottish-American runner and sports official, cancer of the liver and pancreas.
• Joey Sternaman, 88, American NFL footballer.
• William Wordsworth, 79, English composer.

11

• Rashid Bakr, 54, Sudanese politician, Prime Minister of Sudan.
• Christianna Brand, 80, British crime writer and children's author.
• Khurshid Hasan Khurshid, 64, Indian-Pakistani politician, President of Azad Kashmir, road accident.
• Jackie O'Driscoll, 66, Irish international footballer.

12

• Samaresh Basu, 63, Indian writer.
• Romare Bearden, 76, American artist, author and songwriter, complications from bone cancer. ^[15]
• Arnold Bell, 86, British actor.
• DeWitt Bodeen, 79, American film screenwriter and television writer.
• Charles Cochran Kirkpatrick, 80, American rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.
• Alvin McCoy, 84, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner.
• Bernard Rudofsky, 82, Austrian-American writer and architect. ^[16]
• Karen Steele, 56, American actress and model, cancer.

13

• Dino Bovoli, 73, Italian footballer and coach.
• Olive Carey, 92, American film and television actress. ^[17]
• John Holmes, 43, American pornographic film actor, cardio-respiratory arrest and encephalitis due to AIDS. ^[18]
• Patesko, 77, Brazilian international footballer.
• Vladimir Sakson, 60, Soviet painter, book illustrator and stage designer.
• Steno, 71, Italian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.

14

• Abbas Abbasi, 63, Pakistani hereditary leader, Nawab and Amir of Bahawalpur State.
• Willi Apel, 94, German-American musicologist and author.
• Bruno Balz, 85, German songwriter.
• Rudolf Gramlich, 79, SS officer and German international footballer.
• Henrik Malyan, 62, Georgian-Armenian film director and writer.
• Saul Weingeroff, 72, American professional wrestling manager.

15

• Ron Camm, 73, Australian politician, member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
• Chevene Bowers King, 64, American attorney and civil rights leader, prostate cancer.
• Ruth Crosby Noble, 91, American author and herpetologist. ^[19]
• Frank Perkins, 79, American song composer.
• Dmitri Polyakov, 66, Ukrainian-Soviet operative and spy for the United States, executed by shooting.
• William J. Porter, 73, British-American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, South Korea, Canada and Saudi Arabia, cancer. ^[20]
• Victor Wickersham, 82, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

16

• Dorothy Adams, 88, American actress of stage, film and television.
• António Augusto Peixoto Correia, 74, Portuguese colonial governor of Cape Verde, Governor-general of Guinea-Bissau.
• Rollie Dotsch, 75, American football coach, pancreatic cancer.
• Paul Kohner, 85, Austro-Hungarian–born American talent agent and producer, heart attack. ^[21]
• Albert Kónya, 70, Hungarian physicist and politician, Minister of Education.
• Erich Probst, 60, Austrian international footballer.
• Dannie Richmond, 56, American jazz drummer, heart attack. ^[22]
• Jigger Statz, 90, American Major League baseballer.
• Luther Merritt Swygert, 83, United States circuit judge.
• Mickey Thompson, 59, American auto racing builder and promoter, gunned down.

17

• Bruce C. Clarke, 86, United States Army general, stroke. ^[23]
• Roland Drew, 87, American actor. ^[24]
• Leif Granli, 78, Norwegian politician, President of the Storting.
• Reg Halton, 71, English footballer and Minor Counties cricketer.
• Franz-Otto Krüger, 70, German film and television actor.
• Tan Siew Sin, 71, Malaysian politician, Minister of Finance.

18

• Gerald Abraham, 84, English musicologist, editor and music critic.
• Billy Butterfield, 71, American jazz bandleader, trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist. ^[25]
• Waldemar Sjölander, 80, Swedish painter, printmaker and sculptor.
• Percy Thrower, 75, British gardener, horticulturist, broadcaster and writer.

19

• Reyner Banham, 66, English architectural critic and writer. ^[26]
• Sabino Barinaga, 65, Spanish footballer and manager, heart disease.
• Philip Birnbaum, 83, American religious author and translator. ^[27]
• John Otis Brew, 81, American archaeologist.
• Bun Cook, 84, Canadian ice hockey player and coach.
• Máirtín Ó Direáin, 77, Irish poet.
• Suzy Frelinghuysen, (a.k.a. Suzy Morris), 76, American abstract painter and opera singer, stroke. ^[28]
• Sid Harkreader, 90, American fiddle player and string band leader.

20

• Dick Bell, 74, Canadian politician, member of the Canadian Parliament.
• Gil Evans, 75, Canadian-American jazz pianist, composer and bandleader, peritonitis from prostate surgery. ^[29]
• Samuel W. Reynolds, 97, United States senator.
• Agnes Wright Spring, 94, American journalist, writer and historian.

21

• Virginia Axline, 76, American psychologist.
• Marie Burke, 93, English actress of stage, cinema and television.
• Walter Fricke, 72, German professor of theoretical astronomy, mathematician and cryptanalyst, cancer.
• Edd Roush, 94, American Major League baseballer.
• Charley Shipp, 74, American NBA basketballer and coach.
• Sigfrit Steiner, 81, Swiss actor.
• Patrick Steptoe, 74, English obstetrician and gynaecologist, pioneer of in-vitro fertilisation. ^[30]

22

• Gudmund Harlem, 70, Norwegian physician and politician.
• Rudolf Matz, 86, Croatian composer.
• Lester Rawlins, 63, American stage, screen and television actor, cardiac arrest. ^[31]
• P. B. A. Weerakoon, 88, Sri Lankan educator and politician, member of the Ceylon Parliament.

23

• Jimmy Jacobs, 58, American handball player, leukemia.
• Isaiah L. Kenen, 83, Canadian-American journalist, lawyer and philanthropist.
• Murder of Deborah Linsley, 22, English murder victim.
• Dayton Lummis, 84, American film, television and theatre actor.
• Geoff McInnes, 79, Australian rules footballer.
• Pash, 37, Indian poet, gunned down.

24

• Heinrich Aigner, 63, German politician.
• Turhan Feyzioğlu, 65–66, Turkish academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey.
• Abdullahi Issa, 67, Somali politician, Prime Minister of Italian Somalia.
• William Moseley Jones, 82, American attorney, speaker of the California State Assembly.
• Roger Loyer, 80, French motorcycle road racer.

25

• James J. Howard, 60, American educator and politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, heart attack. ^[32]
• Robert Joffrey, 57, American dancer, teacher, producer and choreographer, organ failure.
• Thomas William Lyons, 64, American Roman Catholic bishop, hepatitis from transfusion.
• Al Schwartz, 77, American screenwriter, television producer and director, brother of Sherwood Schwartz.

26

• Miguel Abuelo, 42, Argentine rock musician and singer, cardiac arrest.
• Julian Pierce, 42, American lawyer and activist, murdered (body found on this date).

27

• Renato Salvatori, 55, Italian actor, liver cirrhosis.
• Charles Willeford, 69, American writer, heart attack.

28

• Alan Crawford, 72, Australian rules footballer.
• Frans Peeraer, 75, Belgian international footballer.
• S. N. Tripathi, 75, Indian composer.

29

• Maurice Blackburn, 73, Canadian composer and conductor.
• Arkady Bochkaryov, 57, Soviet basketballer and Olympic medalist.
• Ted Kluszewski, 63, American Major League baseballer, heart attack.
• Dulcie September, 52, South African anti-Apartheid activist, assassinated. ^[33]

30

• Ranulph Bacon, 81, British police officer, Inspector-General of Police of British Ceylon.
• Edgar Faure, 79, French politician, lawyer and historian, Prime Minister of France. ^[34]
• John Clellon Holmes, 62, American author, poet and professor, cancer. ^[35]
• Jimmy McGuigan, 64, Scottish footballer and manager.
• Doris Pawn, 93, American silent-screen actress.
• Luis Ravaschino, 85, Argentinian international footballer.
• Senerath Somaratne, 58, Sri Lankan politician.

31

• Vincent Madeley Harris, 74, American Roman Catholic bishop.
• Sir William McMahon, 80, Australian politician, Prime Minister of Australia. ^[36]

References

1. "Joe Besser, 80, od rhw 3 Stooges" . The New York Times . March 2, 1988. p. A 20. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
2. Steven Greenhouse, Special To the New York Times (March 3, 1988). "Jean Le Poulain, Actor, Dies at 63; Director of the Comedie Francaise" . The New York Times . p. D 20. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
3. "Thomas Vezzetti, 59, Hoboken Mayor, Dies" . The New York Times . March 3, 1988. p. D 20. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
4. Krajowa Agencja Informacyjna (Poland) (1988). Biuletyn informacyjny. p. 5.
5. "Lois Wilson, Actress of Stage, Television and Silent-Film Era". New York Times . Associated Press. March 10, 1988. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
6. "James Peter Davis, Retired Archbishop, 83" . The New York Times . March 8, 1988. p. D 31. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
7. "Mathilde Pincus Dies; Music Supervisor, 71" . The New York Times . March 8, 1988. p. D 31. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
8. Bernard Jay (August 10, 1994). Not Simply Divine. Simon and Schuster. p. 12. ISBN   978-0-671-88467-3.
9. "Robert Livingston, 83, An Actor in 100 Films" . The New York Times . March 10, 1988. p. D 22. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
10. Glenn Fowler (March 11, 1988). "Milton Galamison, Leader in a Dispute Over the Schools, 65" . The New York Times . p. D 18. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
11. Wolfgang Saxon (March 10, 1988). "Kurt Kiesinger, 60's Bonn Leader And Former Nazi, Is Dead at 83" . The New York Times . p. D 22. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
12. Thomas Rogers (March 11, 1988). "Glenn Cunningham, 78, Premier Miler of 1930's" . The New York Times . p. D 18. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
13. "Gibb's Death Tied to Natural Causes". LA Times. UPI. March 12, 1988. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
14. Summary of World Broadcasts: The Far East. Part III. Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. 1988. pp. 7–10.
15. C. Gerald Fraser (March 13, 1988). "Romare Bearden, Collagist and Painter, Dies at 75" . The New York Times . p. 1 36. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
16. Maura Reynolds (March 13, 1988). "Bernard Rudofsky, 82, Architect And 'Outspoken' Social Analyst" . The New York Times . p. 1 36. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
17. "Olive Carey Dies at 92; Longtime Film Actress" . The New York Times . March 17, 1988. p. B 10. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
18. "John Holmes, 43, Dies; Was Star of Sex Films" . The New York Times . March 15, 1988. p. B 8. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
19. "Ruth Crosby Noble, Author, 91" . The New York Times . March 31, 1988. p. B 11. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
20. "William Porter, 73, U.S. Delegate At Vietnam Peace Talks, Is Dead" . The New York Times . March 17, 1988. p. B 10. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
21. Andrew Yarrow (March 19, 1988). "Paul Kohner, Hollywood Agent And Film Producer, Is Dead at 85" . The New York Times . p. 1 33. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
22. "Dannie Richmond, 56, Drummer With Mingus" . The New York Times . March 18, 1988. p. D 23. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
23. Marvine Howe (March 20, 1988). "Gen. Bruce C. Clarke Dies at 86; Ex-Army Commander in Europe" . The New York Times . p. 1 36. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
24. "Roland Drew; Actor, 87" . The New York Times . March 19, 1988. p. 1 33. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
25. "Billy Butterfield, 71, Big-Band Trumpeter On Shaw's 'Stardust'" . The New York Times . March 19, 1988. p. 1 33. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
26. Paul Goldberger (March 22, 1988). "Reyner Banham, Architectural Critic, Dies at 66" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
27. Ari L. Goldman (March 22, 1988). "Philip Birnbaum, 83, Author of Books For Jewish Liturgy" . The New York Times . p. B 5. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
28. "Suzy Frelinghuysen, Artist, Is Dead at 76" . The New York Times . March 23, 1988. p. D 27. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
29. Peter Watrous (March 22, 1988). "Gil Evans, a Key Jazz Composer And Orchestrator, Is Dead at 75" . The New York Times . p. B 4. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
30. Walter Sullivan (March 23, 1988). "Dr. Patrick Steptoe Is Dead at 74; Opened Era of 'Test Tube' Babies" . The New York Times . p. D 27. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
31. Jennifer A. Kingson (March 29, 1988). "Lester Rawlins, 63, Stage TV Actor; Won Tony for 'Da'" . The New York Times . p. D 25. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
32. Clifford D. May, Special To the New York Times (March 26, 1988). "James Howard, Congressman, Is Dead at 60" . The New York Times . p. 1 38. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
33. Hilton Hamann (2001). Days of the Generals. Zebra. p. 154. ISBN   978-1-86872-340-9.
34. The Annual Obituary. St. Martin's. 1988. p. 136. ISBN   978-1-55862-050-6.
35. John T. McQuiston (March 31, 1988). "John Clellon Holmes, 62, Novelist And Poet of the Beat Generation" . The New York Times . p. B 11. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
36. Asia Yearbook. Review Publishing Company. 1989. p. 254. ISBN   978-962-7010-33-3.