List of Famous people who died at 88

Dorothy Louise McIntosh Slaughter was an American politician elected to sixteen terms as a United States Representative from New York, serving from 1987 until her death in 2018. She served as the Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation for the last few terms as Congresswoman before her death.

Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Rankin was, besides Ewa Wiśnierska, the only known person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud. He was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps and a World War II and Korean War veteran. He was flying an F-8 Crusader jet fighter over a cumulonimbus cloud when the engine failed, forcing him to eject and parachute into the cloud. Lieutenant Colonel Rankin wrote a book about his experience, The Man Who Rode the Thunder.

Alexander Theodore Shulgin was an American medicinal chemist, biochemist, organic chemist, pharmacologist, psychopharmacologist, and author. He is credited with introducing MDMA to psychologists in the late 1970s for psychopharmaceutical use and for the discovery, synthesis and personal bioassay of over 230 psychoactive compounds for their psychedelic and entactogenic potential.

Mufidah Abdul Rahman was one of Egypt's first female lawyers; she was also the first female lawyer to take cases to the Court of Cassation in Egypt, the first woman to practice law in Cairo, Egypt, the first woman to plead a case before a military court in Egypt, and the first woman to plead cases before courts in the south of Egypt.

Kaoru Yachigusa was a Japanese actress from Osaka Prefecture. From 1947 to 1957 she was a member of the Takarazuka Revue. Since leaving the Revue, she was active in film, television, and narration.

Myriam Paula Sarachik was a Belgian-born American experimental physicist. From 1996, she was a distinguished professor of physics at the City College of New York.

Tadao Takashima was a Japanese actor and jazz musician. He appeared in more than 100 films, including the Toho productions King Kong vs. Godzilla, Atragon, and Frankenstein Conquers the World. He also performed in stage musicals such as My Fair Lady and appeared in several television shows.

Jean-Christophe Averty was a French television and radio director, and Satrap of the College of 'Pataphysique.

Shelby Dade Foote Jr. was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he viewed himself primarily as a novelist, he is now best known for his The Civil War: A Narrative, a three-volume history of the American Civil War.

Clive Eric Cussler was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times. Cussler was the founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and numerous other notable underwater wrecks. He was the sole author or lead author of more than 80 books.