List of Famous people who died in 1998

James Flora, best known for his distinctive and idiosyncratic album cover art for RCA Victor and Columbia Records during the 1940s and 1950s, was also a prolific commercial illustrator from the 1940s to the 1970s and the author/illustrator of 17 popular children's books. He was a fine artist as well, who created hundreds of paintings, drawings, etchings and sketches over his 84-year lifespan.

Thelma Alicia Parapar, better known by her stage name, Thelma del Río was an Argentine film, stage and television actress, as well as a noted vedette. She worked as in the theatre with Carlos A. Petit, Adolfo Stray and Nelida Roca. A victim of breast cancer, she died in Buenos Aires in 1998, and was buried in La Chacarita Cemetery.

Zeki Kuneralp was a Turkish diplomat, who was brought up in exile in Switzerland after the murder of his father, Ali Kemal Bey, during the Turkish War of Independence. After his education he returned to Turkey and, with the express approval of President İsmet İnönü, entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At first taking up diplomatic posts throughout Europe, Kuneralp was later appointed Turkish Ambassador to Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Spain, as well as twice serving as Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry. He survived an assassination attempt which claimed the lives of his wife and her brother in Madrid in 1978. He retired, in part due to ill-health, in 1979, renouncing the world and current affairs, and turning his attention instead to writing and publishing. His autobiography was translated into English in 1992, while others of his books are considered important sources of twentieth century Turkish history. He died in Istanbul in 1998.

Joachim, Count of Schönburg-Glauchau was the nominal successor head of the former mediatised German Counts of Schönburg-Glauchau until 1945. Dispossessed and expelled from his homeland in 1945, he and his family migrated to the Rhineland, where he was an author and journalist. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he returned to his homeland, represented the district in the Bundestag, and served in local government.

Gennady Vasilevich Kolbin was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR from December 16, 1986 to June 22, 1989.

Arnim Dahl was a German Stuntman.

Manuel Delgado Villegas, also known as El Arropiero, was a Spanish serial killer active between 1964 and 1971. Delgado claimed to have carried out 48 murders in Spain, Italy and France – of these cases the Spanish police were only able to investigate twenty-two in Spain and considered him the definite perpetrator of seven. He was never brought to trial, as he was diagnosed with a severe mental disorder, and in 1978 the Audiencia Nacional ordered that he be preventively detained at Carabanchel Penitentiary Psychiatric Hospital. He was released into the care of a psychiatric hospital in 1996 and died two years later of a smoking-related lung disease.

Kenkichi Iwasawa was a Japanese mathematician who is known for his influence on algebraic number theory.

Marie-Louise Fébronie Meilleur was a Canadian supercentenarian. Meilleur is the oldest validated Canadian ever and upon the death of longevity world record holder Jeanne Calment, became the world's oldest recognized living person. She was succeeded as the oldest living person by Sarah Knauss.

Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple. She also narrated a number of Miss Marple stories on audiobooks.