The following is a list of notable deaths in February 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.
February 1988
1
- Marcel Bozzuffi, 58, French film actor.
- John Grist Brainerd, 83–84, American electrical engineer.
- Jean Paul Guhel, 57, French ice dancer.
- Ted Hill, 72, Australian barrister, lawyer and communist activist.
- Thomas Francis Johnson, 78, American politician, member of U.S. House of Representatives, car crash.
- Heather O'Rourke, 12, American child actress (Poltergeist), congenital stenosis of intestine.
- Stephen Taylor, 77, British physician, civil servant, politician and educator.
2
- Quamrul Hassan, 66, Bengali artist, heart attack.
- Normie Smith, 79, Canadian ice hockey player.
- G. Mennen Williams, 76, American politician, governor of Michigan, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines.
3
- Ronald Bladen, 69, Canadian-American painter and sculptor.
- Robert Duncan, 69, American poet.
- Radamés Gnattali, 82, Brazilian composer.
- René Massigli, 99, French diplomat.
- Michael Nott, 71, British Anglican priest.
- Jocko Thompson, 71, American Major League baseballer.
- Sewall Wright, 98, American geneticist, fall.
4
- Frank Giacoia, 63, American comics artist.
- Dhamma Jagoda, 47, Sri Lankan theatre and television play director and actor.
- Krzysztof Sitkowski, 52, Polish basketballer and Olympian.
5
- Ove Arup, 92, English engineer, design engineer for Sydney Opera House.
- Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, 73, American mathematician.
- Stefan Dittrich, 75, German politician.
- Tommy Doyle, 72, Irish hurler.
- Clement Hurd, 80, American artist, Alzheimer's disease.
- Emeric Pressburger, 85, Hungarian-British film director and producer.
6
- Gary Berland, 37, American professional poker player, blood disorder.
- Richard Bock, 61, American jazz record producer.
- Marghanita Laski, 72, English journalist, radio panelist and novelist, lung disease.
- Nick Pietrosante, 50, American NFL footballer, prostate cancer.
- Barclay Plager, 46, Canadian ice hockey player, brain cancer.
- Carmen Polo, 87, Spanish wife of Francisco Franco.
7
- Lin Carter, 57, American author of science fiction and fantasy.
- Ray Martin, 69, Austrian-British orchestra leader, cancer.
8
- Pietro Arcari, 78, Italian footballer.
- Dolores Camarillo, 77, Mexican film, television and theatre actress.
- Allan Cuthbertson, 67, Australian-British actor.
- Ralph Flanagan, 69, American swimmer and Olympic medalist.
- Alfréd Wetzler, 69, Austro-Hungarian–born Czechoslovakian writer.
- Helen Wood, 70, American film and radio actress.
9
- Kurt Herbert Adler, 69, Austrian-American conductor.
- Ermal Allen, 69, American NFL footballer, cancer.
- Henry Burrell, 83, Australian navy commander, Vice Admiral of Royal Australian Navy.
- Israel Nathan Herstein, 64, Polish-American mathematician, cancer.
- Charles Moses, 88, British-Australian administrator, general manager of Australian Broadcasting Commission.
10
- Nat Cohen, 82, British film producer, heart attack.
- Yuri Illichev, 60, Soviet coach of Iraq and Iceland national football teams.
- Don Patterson, 51, American jazz organist.
- Chaya Mushka Schneerson, 86, Russian-American wife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Jewish spiritual leader.
- Aram Ter-Ghevondyan, 59, Egyptian-Armenian historian.
11
- Marion Crawford, 78, Scottish governess to Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth.
- Frederick Easson, 82, Scottish Episcopal Church bishop.
- René Hall, 75, American guitarist, heart disease.
12
- Adolf Bieringer, 59, German politician, member of the Bundestag.
- Robert Coin, 86, French sculptor and engraver.
- Jacques Colombier, 86–87, French art director and film set designer.
13
- John Curulewski, 37, American musician, original member of Styx, brain aneurysm.
- Ron Embleton, 57, British illustrator and comics artist, heart attack.
- Léon Goossens, 90, English oboist.
14
- Frederick Loewe, 86, German-American composer, cardiac arrest.
- Cal Niday, 73, American racecar driver, heart attack.
- Lynette White, 20, Welsh murder victim.
- Slavko Zagorac, 78, Austro-Hungarian–born Yugoslav footballer and manager.
15
- Al Cohn, 62, American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer, liver cancer.
- Richard Feynman, 69, American theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate in Physics, kidney failure.
- Jay Leyda, 78, American filmmaker and film historian.
- Gardiner Means, 91, American economist.
- Arthur Mizener, 80, American professor of English and literary critic.
16
- Charles Delaunay, 77, French author and jazz expert, Parkinson's disease.
- Vijaya Kumaratunga, 42, Sri Lankan actor, singer and politician, assassinated.
- Ye Shengtao, 93, Chinese writer, journalist, educator, publisher and politician.
- Oskar Skogly, 80, Norwegian trade unionist and politician, member of the Norwegian Parliament.
17
- John M. Allegro, 65, English archaeologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, heart attack.
- Alexander Bashlachev, 27, Soviet poet, singer-songwriter and guitarist, probable suicide.
- Yuri Ovchinnikov, 53, Soviet bio-organic chemist.
- Alain Savary, 69, French politician.
- Karpoori Thakur, 64, Indian politician.
- Reginald Uren, 81, New Zealand architect.
18
- Mahmood-ul Hassan, 63, Pakistani hockey player and Olympian.
- Abderrahman Ibrir, 68, Algerian footballer and manager, drowning.
- Giovanni Savonuzzi, 77, Italian automobile designer.
19
- Isabel Bishop, 85, American painter and graphic artist.
- René Char, 80, French poet, member of the French resistance, heart attack.
- André Frédéric Cournand, 92, French-American physician, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine.
- William W. Eagles, 93, American officer, Major General in the U.S. Army.
- Walerian Kisieliński, 80, Polish international footballer.
- Walter Ohmsen, 76, German officer in the Kriegsmarine during World War II.
- S. V. Sahasranamam, 74, Indian actor and director, heart attack.
20
- Bob O'Farrell, 91, American Major League baseballer.
- Mildred Seydell, 98, American journalist.
- Roger J. Williams, 94, American biochemist.
- Jim Woods, American Major League baseball sportscaster, cancer.
21
- Angie Debo, 98, American historian.
- Bert Lucas, 65, Australian rules footballer.
- Aidan McAnespie, 23, Irish murder victim.
- Aleksandar Tomašević, 79, Serbian international footballer and manager.
- Martin Winter, 32, East German rower and Olympic gold medalist.
22
- Edward Vaughan Bevan, 80, British rower and Olympic gold medalist.
- Albert Collier, 78, Australian rules footballer.
- Eugen Iordache, 65, Romanian international footballer and manager.
- Cecil Ramage, 93, Scottish barrister, actor and politician, Member of Parliament.
- Larry Shay, 90, American songwriter.
23
- Pete Donohue, 87, American Major League baseballer.
- Jack Dugger, 65, American NFL footballer and NBL basketballer.
24
- Rose Coyle, 73, Miss America 1936.
- James H. Douglas Jr., 88, American lawyer, senior official in U.S. Government, Secretary of the Air Force, cancer.
- Asoka Karunaratne, 72, Sri Lankan politician and philanthropist, heart attack.
- Loretta McNeil, 81, American sprinter and Olympic medalist.
- Mamdouh Salem, 69, Prime Minister of Egypt.
- Memphis Slim, 72, American blues pianist, singer and composer, renal failure.
- Bluma Zeigarnik, 87, Soviet psychologist.
25
- Bernard Ashmole, 93, British archaeologist and art historian.
- Louis Zhang Jiashu, 94, Chinese Catholic Jesuit priest.
- Kurt Mahler, 84, German mathematician.
- Peck Morrison, 68, American jazz bassist.
- Dori Seda, 37, American artist, influenza.
26
- Jaú, 78, Brazilian international footballer.
- Joseph Kiselewski, 87, American sculptor.
- Tom Oliver, 85, American Major League baseballer and rugby player.
- Satyawati Suleiman, 67, Indonesian historian and archaeologist.
27
- Basil Boothroyd, 77, English humorous writer.
- Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, 89, French excommunicated Catholic bishop.
- Doug Holmquist, 46, American baseballer and Major League coach, heart attack.
- Franck Lavaud, 85, Haitian general and politician, President of Haiti.
- Gene de Paul, 68, American pianist, composer and songwriter.
- Kenneth Peach, 84, American cinematographer.
28
- Harvey Kuenn, 57, American Major League baseballer, complications from heart disease and diabetes.
- Mikhail Naimy, 98, Lebanese poet, novelist and philosopher, pneumonia.
- Asakazu Nakai, 86, Japanese cinematographer.
- Kylie Tennant, 75, Australian novelist, playwright, short-story writer, biographer, and historian.
29
- Robert H. Brower, 64, American professor of Far East Language and Literature.
- Beatriz Guido, 65, Argentinian novelist and screenwriter.
Unknown date
- Cyril Jackson, 84, South African astronomer.
- Émile Lachapelle, 82, Swiss rower and Olympic gold medalist.
- Lolette Payot, 77, Swiss-French tennis player.
- John Smith, 49, English footballer.
- Ethel Venton, 96–97, English secularist, councillor and animal welfare activist.
References
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