{{Short description|List of notable deaths of a month}}

{{More citations needed|date=April 2023}}

{{Deaths in month TOC}}

The following is a list of notable deaths in March 1988.

Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

== March 1988 ==

=== 1 ===

* [[Joe Besser]], 81, American actor<ref>{{Cite news |title='THREE STOOGES' ACTOR JOE BESSER DIES AT AGE 80 |language=en-US |work=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/03/03/three-stooges-actor-joe-besser-dies-at-age-80/45f229e2-31a4-422a-8cb8-7ba75f9739e8/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

* [[Tommy Breen]], 76, Irish footballer

* [[Tommy Potter]], 69, American double bass player<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26634496 |title=The Guinness encyclopedia of popular music |date=1992 |publisher=Guinness Pub. |others=Colin Larkin |isbn=0-85112-939-0 |location=Enfield, Middlesex, England |pages=1952 |oclc=26634496}}</ref>

=== 2 ===

* [[John Clellon Holmes]], 61, American poet

* [[Kate Mahaut]], 79, Danish fencer

* [[Harry Lundahl]], 82, Swedish football player and manager

=== 3 ===

* [[Henryk Szeryng]], 69, Polish violinist

* [[Lois Wilson (actress)|Lois Wilson]], 93, American actress

* [[Sewall Wright]], 98, American geneticist

=== 4 ===

* [[Anna Maestri]], 64, Italian actress

=== 5 ===

* [[János Németh]], 62, Hungarian water polo player

=== 6 ===

* [[Jeanne Aubert]], 87, French actress

* [[Dick Ricketts]], 55, American basketball player

=== 7 ===

* [[Guido Celano]], 83, Italian actor

* [[Divine]], 42, American actor

* [[Robert Livingston (actor)|Robert Livingston]], 84, American actor

* [[Olof Stahre]], 78, Swedish knight

=== 8 ===

* [[Gordon Carpenter]], 68, American basketball player and coach

* [[Lala Abdul Rashid]], 66, Pakistani field hockey player

=== 9 ===

* [[Kurt Georg Kiesinger]], 84, German politician

* [[Poondi Kumaraswamy]], 58, Indian engineer (b.1930))

=== 10 ===

* [[Glenn Cunningham (athlete)|Glenn Cunningham]], 79, American middle-distance runner

* [[Andy Gibb]], 30, British singer

* [[Svetislav Glišović]], 75, Yugoslav football manager

* [[Nikolai Karakulov]], 70, Soviet sprinter

* [[Phạm Hùng]], 76, Vietnamese politician

* [[Joey Sternaman]], 88, American football player

=== 11 ===

* [[Christianna Brand]], 81, British writer

* [[Abdullahi Issa Mohamud]], 66, Somali politician

* [[Máirtín Ó Direáin]], 78, Irish poet

=== 12 ===

* [[Alessandro Bausani]], 67, Italian Islamist

* [[Romare Bearden]], 77, American writer

* [[Marcello Del Bello]], 67, Italian tennis player

* [[Angiola Minella]], 68, Italian partisan

* [[Gianna Pederzini]], 88, Italian mezzo-soprano

* [[Billie Rhodes]], 94, American actress

* [[Bernard Rudofsky]], 83, Austrian architect

* [[Karen Steele]], 57, American actress

=== 13 ===

* [[Patesko]], 78, Brazilian footballer

* [[Dino Bovoli]], 74, Italian football manager

* [[Cees Groot]], 56, Dutch footballer

* [[John Holmes (actor)|John Holmes]], 44, American pornographic actor

* [[Xavier Saint-Macary]], 40, actor French

* [[Stefano Vanzina|Steno]], 70, Italian film director

=== 14 ===

* [[Willi Apel]], 95, German musicologist

* [[Rudolf Gramlich]], 80, German football manager

* [[Ru den Hamer]], 71, Dutch water polo player

=== 15 ===

* [[Dannie Richmond]], 57, American drummer

=== 16 ===

* [[Dorothy Adams]], 88, American actress

* [[Erich Probst]], 61, Austrian footballer

=== 17 ===

* [[Gösta Alexandersson]], 79, Swedish actor

* [[Bruce C. Clarke|Bruce Clarke]], 87, U.S. general

* [[Franz-Otto Krüger]], 71, German actor, director and screenwriter

=== 18 ===

* [[Gerald Abraham]], 84, English musicologist

* [[Karl Maria Demelhuber]], 92, German general

* [[Joan Field]], 73, American violinist

* [[Anna Miserocchi]], 63, Italian actress

=== 19 ===

* [[Reyner Banham]], 66, British art critic

* [[Sabino Barinaga]], 66, Spanish football player and manager

* [[Bun Cook]], 83, Canadian ice hockey player

=== 20 ===

* [[Gil Evans]], 76, Canadian pianist

* [[Greer Skousen]], 71, Mexican basketball player

=== 21 ===

* [[Marie Burke]], 94, British actress

* [[Edd Roush]], 95, American baseball player

* [[Charley Shipp]], 75, American basketball player

* [[Patrick Steptoe]], 75, English gynaecologist

=== 22 ===

* [[Lester Rawlins]], 64, American actor

* [[André Saeys]], 77, Belgian footballer

=== 23 ===

* [[Dayton Lummis]], 85, American actor

=== 25 ===

* [[Robert Joffrey]], 58, American dancer

=== 27 ===

* [[Jole Fierro]], 62, Italian actress

* [[Renato Salvatori]], 54, Italian actor

* [[Pierre Virion]], 99, French journalist

* [[Charles Willeford]], 69, American writer, poet, and art critic

=== 28 ===

* [[Frans Peeraer]], 75, Belgian footballer

=== 29 ===

* [[Jacques Santi]], 59, France actor

* [[Dulcie September]], 53, South African activist

=== 30 ===

* [[Nicola Alexandrovich Benois]], 87, Russian set designer

* [[Edgar Faure]], 80, French writer

* [[Doris Pawn]], 94, American actress

* [[Luis Ravaschino]], 85, Argentine footballer

* [[Arnie Zane]], 40, American dancer

=== 31 ===

* [[William McMahon]], 80, Australian politician

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Navbox deaths}}

[[Category:1988 deaths|*1988-03]]

[[Category:Lists of deaths in 1988| 03]]