List of Famous people who died at 88

Gerd Michael Henneberg was a German actor and theater director.

Nikolaus Riehl was a German industrial physicist. He was head of the scientific headquarters of Auergesellschaft. When the Russians entered Berlin near the end of World War II, he was invited to the Soviet Union, where he stayed for 10 years. For his work on the Soviet atomic bomb project, he was awarded a Stalin Prize, Lenin Prize, and Order of the Red Banner of Labor. When he was repatriated to Germany in 1955, he chose to go to West Germany, where he joined Heinz Maier-Leibnitz on his nuclear reactor staff at Technische Hochschule München (THM); Riehl made contributions to the nuclear facility Forschungsreaktor München (FRM). In 1961 he became an ordinarius professor of technical physics at THM and concentrated his research activities on solid state physics, especially the physics of ice and the optical spectroscopy of solids.

Alexander Mair "Sandy" Courage Jr. was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme music for the original Star Trek series.

Eugene Francis "Gene" Whelan, was a Canadian politician, sitting in the House of Commons from 1962 to 1984, and in the Senate from 1996 to 1999. He was also Minister of Agriculture under Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1984, and became one of Canada's best-known politicians. During his career, he would meet Queen Elizabeth II, help Canada beat U.S. president Richard Nixon to the punch in "opening up" China, and play a catalyzing role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War. In an editorial immediately following his death, the Windsor Star said:

He was folksy, flamboyant and colourful. He was the farmer in the iconic green Stetson. He was blunt and rough around the edges. At times he was the antithesis of all things politically correct.

And, while nobody said it in so many words, he was also the guy who made being minister of agriculture seem almost sexy. Perhaps that’s because being in a Pierre Trudeau government was sexy in itself. Regardless, Whelan is likely the only MP to hold that post and have his name remembered because of it.

Carolyn Ashley Kizer was an American poet of the Pacific Northwest whose works reflect her feminism. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985.

Sir Alfred Brian Pippard, FRS, was a British physicist. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 until 1982 and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which he was the first President.

Anneliese Knoop-Graf was the youngest sister of Willi Graf, who was one of the main members of the White Rose resistance group. In his last letter to her he tasked her to “keep a good memory of me.” (“Behaltet mich in guter Errinerung”) After his death Anneliese worked tirelessly to keep Willi’s story alive.