Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Sewall Wright

Sewall Green Wright

United States

1889 – 1988 (98 years old)

American geneticist who co-founded theoretical population genetics alongside Fisher and Haldane, discovered genetic drift (the Sewall Wright Effect), invented the inbreeding coefficient, and developed the Shifting Balance Theory of evolution.

Madison (Wisconsin), United States

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Mikhail Naimy

ميخائيل نعيمة

Lebanon

22 November 1889 – 28 February 1988 (98 years old)

Beloved Lebanese philosopher, poet, and novelist who co-founded the New York Pen League and authored 'The Book of Mirdad'.

Baskinta, Lebanon

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René Char

René Émile Char

France

1907 – 1988 (80 years old)

Colossal Provençal poet and WWII resistance commander code-named 'Capitaine Alexandre' whose aphoristic masterpiece Feuillets d'Hypnos recorded moral defiance in the maquis, praised by Albert Camus as France's greatest living poet.

L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (Vaucluse), France

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Sciences & Discovery

1,332

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Richard Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman

United States

1918 – 1988 (69 years old)

Iconic American theoretical physicist who pioneered quantum electrodynamics, Feynman diagrams, and nanotechnology.

Altadena, California, United States

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Arts & Music

2

Qamrul Hassan

কামরুল হাসান

India

1921-12-02 – 1988-02-02 (66 years old)

Renowned master painter and folk modernist who designed the final geometric specifications of the National Flag and State Emblem of Bangladesh, famous for his iconic anti-authoritarian poster 'This Monster Must Be Annihilated'.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Humanitarian & Peace

44

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

خان عبدالغفار خان

Pakistan

1890 – 1988 (97 years old)

Leader spirituel et politique pachtoune surnommé le « Gandhi de la frontière », fondateur de la première armée de non-violence au monde, les Khudai Khidmatgar.

Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Afghanistan

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Humanitarian & Peace

44

Seán MacBride

Seán Mac Giolla Bhríde

France

1904 – 1988 (83 years old)

Homme d'État irlandais, cofondateur d'Amnesty International et juriste défenseur universel des droits de l'homme, prix Nobel de la paix 1974.

Dublin, Ireland

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Sports & Athletics

37

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Pete Maravich

Peter Press Maravich

United States

22 June 1947 – 5 January 1988 (40 years old)

Peter Press 'Pistol Pete' Maravich was a visionary American basketball showman whose dazzling between-the-legs dribbling, no-look behind-the-back passes, and unlimited shooting range revolutionized offensive basketball decades ahead of his time. Playing for his father Press Maravich at LSU, he scored 3,667 points, maintaining an unbreakable all-time NCAA record of 44.2 points per game without the three-point line.

Pasadena, California, United States

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Mengistu Lemma

Ethiopia

1924-01-01 – 1988-01-01 (64 years old)

Celebrated Ethiopian playwright and poet whose classic satirical comedies 'Snobbery in Marriage' (Yalacha Gabicha) and 'The Marriage of Unequals' defined modern Amharic dramatic literature.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Politics

1

Resistance & Human Rights

Hajj Ahmed Mekouar

أحمد مكوار

Morocco

1892 – 1988 (96 years old)

Prominent Fez patrician and nationalist in whose historic palace (Dar Mekouar) the Moroccan Proclamation of Independence (Manifesto of 11 January 1944) was drafted, debated, and signed.

Fez, Morocco

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6

Mohamed Yazourene (Vrirouche)

محمد يازورين (فريروش)

Algeria

1912 – 1988 (75 years old)

Heroic ALN field commander in Wilaya 3 (Kabylie), known as 'Vrirouche', celebrated for his daring mountain ambushes and unyielding defense against colonial paratroopers.

Azazga (Tizi Ouzou), Algeria

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Philosophy & Thought

6

Charles Malik

شارل مالك

Lebanon

11 February 1906 – 28 December 1987 (81 years old)

Distinguished Lebanese philosopher and diplomat who served as President of the UN General Assembly and co-authored the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Btourram, Lebanon

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Marguerite Yourcenar

Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour

Belgium

1903 – 1987 (84 years old)

Brussels-born French-Belgian literary giant who wrote Memoirs of Hadrian (1951) and The Abyss (1968), and in 1980 shattered 345 years of male exclusivity by becoming the first woman elected to the Académie Française.

Somesville (Mount Desert Island, Maine), United States

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Music

1

Lucie Eyenga

Lucie Eyenga Moseka

Belgian Congo

c. 1934 – 1987-12-12 (53 years old)

Trailblazing vocal star who broke gender barriers in the 1950s as the first prominent female recording artist in Central Africa, performing with African Jazz, OK Jazz, and the Rock-a-Mambo orchestra.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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Music

1

Carlota Jaramillo

María Carlota Jaramillo Jaramillo

Ecuador

1904-07-09 – 1987-12-10 (83 years old)

Revered musical matriarch celebrated as 'La Reina de la Canción Nacional' whose poignant, aristocratic interpretations of pasillos, albazos, and sanjuanitos—most famously 'Sendas Distintas'—defined national song.

Quito, Ecuador

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Sciences & Discovery

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