List of Famous people who died in 1988

Leon Belasco, born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky, was a Russian-American musician and actor who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films.

Afro Poli was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.

Hans Lewy was a Jewish German born American mathematician, known for his work on partial differential equations and on the theory of functions of several complex variables.

Theodor Schneider was a German mathematician, best known for providing proof of what is now known as the Gelfond–Schneider theorem.

Lyman Louis Lemnitzer was a United States Army general, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1960 to 1962. He then served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1963 to 1969.

Niyazi Berkes was a Turkish Cypriot sociologist.

Joe Besser was an American actor, comedian and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of the Three Stooges in cinematic short subjects of 1957–59. He is also remembered for his television roles: Stinky, the bratty man-child in The Abbott and Costello Show, and Jillson, the maintenance man in The Joey Bishop Show.

Nozomu Matsumoto was a Japanese businessman and inventor who founded Pioneer Corporation. He was born in Kobe, Japan in 1905, the son of a Christian missionary. In 1936, he founded the Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho company in Osaka, whose name roughly translates to "Blessed Sound Electric Company" or "Gospel Electric Company", owing to Matsumoto's Christian faith and belief that his electronic products could help in missionary works. In 1937 he created the A-8 speaker, which he christened 'Pioneer'. Matsumoto relocated to Tokyo in 1938 and started a small factory that repaired radios and speakers. After World War II, the company expanded rapidly.