List of Famous people who died in 1998

Jonathan Bruce Postel was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the Editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death. In his lifetime he was known as the "god of the Internet" for his comprehensive influence on the medium, although Postel himself noted that this "compliment" came with a barb — with the article that introduced it also suggesting that he should be replaced by a "Professional."

Federico Zeri was an Italian art historian specialised in Italian Renaissance painting. He wrote for the Italian newspaper La Stampa, and was a well known television-personality in Italy.

Ferdinand A. Hermens was a German-American political scientist and economist. He was born in Nieheim, Kreis Höxter (district) in Germany and he died in Rockville, MD (U.S.). His major books "Democracy or Anarchy?" (1941) and "The Representative Republic" (1958) were translated into German, Italian and Hebrew. The most important contribution to the progress of political science has been his analysis of the impact that electoral systems have in structuring party competition. Hermens has advised U.S. Congressional committees on Presidential Election Procedure, the Judiciary and Divided Powers and Economic Policy, the U.S. government on re-organization of democracy in Germany and the government of Trinidad and Tobago on constitutional matters.

Massimo Franciosa was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He wrote for 72 films between 1955 and 1991. He also directed nine films between 1963 and 1971. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay for The Four Days of Naples in 1964.

Fernando Germani was an organist of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome during the reign of Pope Pius XII.

Dick Higgins (1938–1998) was an American artist, composer, art theorist, poet, publisher, printmaker, and a co-founder of the Fluxus international artistic movement. Inspired by John Cage, Higgins was an early pioneer of using electronic correspondence. Higgins coined the word intermedia to describe his artistic activities, defining it in a 1965 essay by the same name, published in the first number of the Something Else Newsletter. His most notable audio contributions include Danger Music scores and the Intermedia concept to describe the ineffable inter-disciplinary activities that became prevalent in the 1960s.

Alain Bosquet, born Anatoliy Bisk, was a French poet.

Dennis "Denny" Ayling BSC was a British cinematographer. He is best known for his miniature effects cinematography for the 1979 science fiction film Alien, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1971 to 1987. Powell compiled a generally conservative and business-aligned record on the Court.

Joseph Orlando was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics, where he edited numerous titles and ran DC's Special Projects department.