List of Famous people who died in 1988

Ahmet Arvasi, commonly known as Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi, was a writer and philosopher of Kurdish origin. He is known for expounding upon the ideology of the “Turkish-Islamic Synthesis Doctrine” and its effect on Turkey. He was born in Doğubeyazıt district of Ağrı, Turkey. His family is from Van Province. His father Seyyid Abdulhakim Arvasi (1865–1943) who was a Sunni Islamic scholar during the late Ottoman and early Republic periods of Turkey.

Enrique Lihn Carrasco was a Chilean poet, playwright, and novelist. The son of Enrique Lihn Doll and María Carrasco Délano, he married Ivette Mingram (1932–2008). They had one daughter, the actress Andrea María Lihn Mingram. Linh was born in Santiago, Chile. He aspired to be a painter but after a failed attempt at pursuing this ambition during university he abandoned that dream to pursue writing. He proceeded to develop into a poet, playwright, and novelist and would teach literature at the University of Chile. Lihn viewed both the past and the future as forms of death, and his emphasis on this point is evident throughout his literary works. His work revolved around his anger for the contemporary dictatorship, as Chile was governed by a military junta. Works layered with social, political, and religious commentary are common throughout Lihn's canon. His final book, Diario de Muerte was written in the six weeks preceding his death from cancer in Santiago. The evening before his death, he corrected the proofs.

Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other artists. He made over 500 recordings.

Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir was a Palestinian leader and co-founder of the nationalist party Fatah. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fatah's military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fatah's armed wing al-Assifa.

Irina Vsevolodovna Murzaeva was a Soviet actress of theater and cinema.

Richard Salvatore Castellano was an American actor who is best remembered for his role in Lovers and Other Strangers and his subsequent role as Peter Clemenza in The Godfather.

Aracy de Almeida [araˈsi dʒi awˈmeidɐ] was a Brazilian singer, known as a famous artist of the Golden Age of Brazilian radio. Her 1950 album Noel Rosa was voted by Rolling Stone one of the greatest Brazilian albums of all time.

Stefan Baretzki was an Auschwitz guard of Bukovina German origin. He was conscripted into the Waffen-SS and stationed at the Auschwitz concentration camp from 1942 until 1945. There he participated in mass murder by making selections and beat and murdered prisoners on his own initiative. After the war, Baretzki settled in West Germany. He was the lowest-ranking of the twenty-four defendants in the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials. His murders were sensationalized in the German press, taking the focus off of the systematic crimes of the Nazi regime. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment and eight years for participating in the murder of more than 8,000 people. Baretzki expressed regret for his actions, testified against his former superiors, and committed suicide in prison.

Alan William Napier-Clavering, better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.

Frank Joseph Zamboni Jr. was an American inventor and engineer, whose most famous invention is the modern ice resurfacer, with his surname being registered as a trademark for these devices.