1998 deaths

Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) during her career, including 19 singles titles.
Wills was the first American woman athlete to become a global celebrity, making friends with royalty and film stars despite her preference for staying out of the limelight. She was admired for her graceful physique and for her fluid motion. She was part of a new tennis fashion, playing in knee-length pleated skirts rather than the longer ones of her predecessors, and was known for wearing her hallmark white visor. Unusually, she practiced against men to hone her craft, and she played a relentless predominantly baseline game, wearing down her female opponents with power and accuracy. In February 1926 she played a high-profile and widely publicised match against Suzanne Lenglen which was called the Match of the Century.
Wills had a 180-match win streak from 1927 until 1933. In 1933, she beat the eighth-ranked US male player in an exhibition match. Her record of eight wins at Wimbledon was not surpassed until 1990 when Martina Navratilova won her ninth. She was said to be "arguably the most dominant tennis player of the 20th century", and has been called by some (including Jack Kramer, Harry Hopman, Mercer Beasley, Don Budge, and AP News) the greatest female player in history.

Morris King Udall (June 15, 1922 – December 12, 1998) was an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arizona from May 2, 1961, to May 4, 1991. He was a leading contender for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. He was noted by many for his independent and liberal views.In 1961, Udall won a special election to succeed his brother, Stewart Udall, as the congressman for Arizona's 2nd congressional district. In Congress, the younger Udall became a prominent and popular figure for his independent ways, his leading role in the conservation and environmental protection movements, his key role in reforming Congress and political campaigns, and his pioneering role in opposing the Vietnam War.Udall sought the Democratic Party nomination in the 1976 presidential election, but was defeated by Jimmy Carter. He supported Ted Kennedy's strong challenge to Carter in the 1980 Democratic primary, and delivered the keynote address at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.He served as Chairman of the House Interior Committee from 1977 to 1991. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1980, Udall resigned from Congress in 1991 as the effects of the disease worsened. He died in 1998. His son, Mark Udall, represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 2009 to 2015, and his nephew Tom Udall served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. Both also served multiple terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ernst Jünger (German pronunciation: [ɛʁnst ˈjʏŋɐ]; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir Storm of Steel.
The son of a successful businessman and chemist, Jünger rebelled against an affluent upbringing and sought adventure in the Wandervogel German youth movement, before running away to briefly serve in the French Foreign Legion, which was an illegal act in Germany. However, he escaped prosecution due to his father's efforts and was able to enlist in the German Army on the outbreak of World War I in 1914. During an ill-fated offensive in 1918 Jünger was badly wounded and was awarded the Pour le Mérite, a rare decoration for one of his rank.
He wrote against liberal values, democracy, and the Weimar Republic, but rejected the advances of the Nazis who were rising to power. During World War II Jünger served as an army captain in occupied Paris, but by 1943 he had turned decisively against Nazi totalitarianism, a change manifested in his work "Der Friede" (The Peace). Jünger was dismissed from the army in 1944 after he was indirectly implicated with fellow officers who had plotted to kill Hitler. A few months later, his son died in combat in Italy after having been sentenced to a penal battalion for political reasons.After the war, Jünger was treated with some suspicion as a possible fellow traveller of the Nazis. By the later stages of the Cold War, his unorthodox writings about the impact of materialism in modern society were widely seen as conservative rather than radical nationalist, and his philosophical works came to be highly regarded in mainstream German circles. Jünger ended life as an honoured literary figure, although critics continued to charge him with the glorification of war as a transcendental experience in some of his early works. He was an ardent militarist and one of the most complex and contradictory figures in 20th-century German literature.

Jesse Michael Alto (January 1, 1927 – May 3, 1998), was an American poker player, best known for his numerous main event final table appearances at the World Series of Poker.
Alto was a fixture at the World Series of Poker in the 1970s and 1980s. Although he never won any WSOP bracelets, he cashed in many events, most notably in the main event.
Alto was one of the final five players at the 1974 final table finishing either fourth or fifth according to New York Times magazine story from July 28, 1974.
Alto's highest Main Event finish was in 1976 where he finished as the runner-up to Doyle Brunson. In the final hand of the 1976 WSOP Alto held A♣ J♥ while Brunson held 10♠ 2♠. The flop came A♥ J♠ 10♥ giving two pairs for Alto and one pair for Brunson. Alto then led out with a pot size bet, Brunson with the chip lead countered by moving all-in, which was called.
The turn came 2♣, giving Brunson two pair but still trailing, the river brought 10♦ giving Brunson a full house and the win. This was Alto's highest finish in the WSOP main event, but his highest main event money finish was 3rd place in 1984, because the main event had a winner-take-all format until 1978.
Alto made the WSOP Main Event final table 7 times: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985 and 1986.
Alto's total live tournament winnings exceeded $430,000

Ben G. Slater was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

Margaret Mabel Gladys Jennings (née Allan; 26 July 1909 – 21 September 1998) was a Scottish motor racing driver. As Margaret Allan (sometimes erroneously "Allen") she was one of the leading British female racing and rally drivers in the inter-war years, and one of only four women ever to earn a 120 mph badge at the Brooklands circuit. During the war, Jennings worked as an ambulance driver and then at Bletchley Park's intelligence de-coding centre, and afterwards became a journalist and was Vogue magazine's motoring correspondent from 1948 to 1957.

Donald Clayton Bergus (February 26, 1920 South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana, USA – April 12, 1998) was a US career diplomat and expert on south-west Asia.
Born in 1920 in South Bend, Indiana to George and Grace Bergus, Donald then went on to study Law at the University of Chicago. In 1942, Donald was appointed to the Foreign Service, beginning his 40-year-long service, and initially sent to Baghdad.
In 1967, as the Egyptian government severed diplomatic relations with the US government, Bergus was appointed to represent his country's interests in Cairo by managing the US Interests Section from the Spanish embassy. He held that position until February 1972, when succeeded by Joseph Nathaniel Greene. In 1977-1980 he served as US Ambassador to Sudan.
Donald died in 1998 leaving behind his wife, Elizabeth R Bergus, and his three grown children.

Craig Call Black (1932–1998) was an American paleontologist noted for his studies of the vertebrate mammals of the Ice Age. He served as the director of the Museum of Texas Tech University 1972-1975, Carnegie Museum of Natural History 1975-1982 and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 1982-1994. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to serve on the National Museum Services Board. In 1985, Reagan nominated him to serve on the National Science Board for a period of five years succeeding David V. Ragone. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush appointed him to serve on the Environment for the Americas Board.

Edward F. Edinger (December 13, 1922, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa – July 17, 1998, in Los Angeles, California) was a medical psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and American writer.

Claude Jean Pierre Érignac (French pronunciation: [klod ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ eʁiɲak]; 15 December 1937 – 6 February 1998) was a French prefect on the island of Corsica.
Érignac was born in Mende, Lozère. In the course of his political career, he had been prefect of several departments and overseas departments since 1967. In 1996 he went to Ajaccio in Corsica to take office as the Prefect of Corse-du-Sud.