List of Famous people who died at 88

María Irene Fornés was a Cuban-American playwright and director, notable in off-off-Broadway in the 1960s. She was first inspired to write while living with Susan Sontag, whom she encouraged at a difficult moment in Sontag’s own writing career. Fornés’ plays range widely in subject-matter, but often relate to the impact of economic conditions on personal relationships. Fornés won many Obie Theatre Awards and was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Paul Sylbert was an American Academy Award-winning production designer, art director, and set designer who directed on occasion.

Joseph Marie Benoît François Xavier Galouzeau de Villepin, simply known as Xavier de Villepin, was a former high-ranking civil servant of France, and a former French senator from the center-right UMP party. He was the father of the former Prime Minister of France, Dominique de Villepin.