List of Famous people who died in 1987

Hermann Giesler was a German architect during the Nazi era, one of the two architects most favoured and rewarded by Adolf Hitler.

Friedrich Arnold "Fritz" Bopp was a German theoretical physicist who contributed to nuclear physics and quantum field theory. He worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik and with the Uranverein. He was a professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a President of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. He signed the Göttingen Manifesto.

Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.

Herbert George Blumer was an American sociologist whose main scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism and methods of social research. Believing that individuals create social reality through collective and individual action, he was an avid interpreter and proponent of George Herbert Mead's social psychology, which he labelled symbolic interactionism. Blumer elaborated and developed this line of thought in a series of articles, many of which were brought together in the book Symbolic Interactionism. An ongoing theme throughout his work, he argued that the creation of social reality is a continuous process. Blumer was also a vociferous critic of positivistic methodological ideas in sociology.

Mar Joseph Parecattil was an Indian prelate of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Ernakulam from 1956 to 1984, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.

Aram A. Avakian was an American film editor and director. His work in the latter role includes Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) and the indie film End of the Road (1970).

Joy Paul Guilford was an American psychologist best remembered for his psychometric study of human intelligence, including the distinction between convergent and divergent production.