question: Lazarus Long is a fictional character created by an American science fiction writer who died in what year?
answer: 1988
context: Title: Maureen Johnson (Heinlein character)
  Passage: Maureen Johnson Smith Long (July 4, 1882 - June 20, 1982), most often referred to as Maureen Johnson, is a fictional character in several science fiction novels by American writer Robert A. Heinlein.  She is the mother, lover and eventual wife of Lazarus Long, the longest-living member of Heinlein's fictional Howard Families.  She is the only character from the "Lazarus Long cycle" to have an entire fictional memoir devoted to her life.
  Title: John W. Campbell
  Passage: John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor.  As editor of "Astounding Science Fiction" (later called "Analog Science Fiction and Fact") from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
  Title: James E. Gunn (writer)
  Passage: James Edwin Gunn (born July 12, 1923) is an American science fiction writer, editor, scholar, and anthologist.  His work as an editor of anthologies includes the six-volume "Road to Science Fiction" series.  He won the Hugo Award for "Best Related Work" in 1983 and he has won or been nominated for several other awards for his non-fiction works in the field of science fiction studies.  The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 24th Grand Master in 2007 and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015.
  Title: Jody Lynn Nye
  Passage: Jody Lynn Nye (born 1957 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American science fiction writer.  She is the author or co-author of approximately forty published novels and more than 100 short stories.  She has specialized in science fiction or fantasy action novels and humor.  Her humorous series range from contemporary fantasy ("The Magic Touch" and "Mythology 101") to military science fiction ("Strong Arm Tactics" and a new series beginning with "View from the Imperium").  About one-third of her novels are collaborations, either as a co-author or as the author of a sequel.  She has been an instructor of the Fantasy Writing Workshop at Columbia College Chicago (2007) and she teaches the annual Science Fiction Writing Workshop at DragonCon.
  Title: Octavia E. Butler
  Passage: Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer.  A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, in 1995 she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship.
  Title: Robert A. Heinlein
  Passage: Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction writer.  Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", his sometimes controversial works continue to have an influential effect on the genre, and on modern culture more generally.
  Title: Lazarus Long
  Passage: Lazarus Long is a fictional character featured in a number of science fiction novels by Robert A. Heinlein.  Born in 1912 in the third generation of a selective breeding experiment run by the Ira Howard Foundation, Lazarus (birth name Woodrow Wilson Smith) becomes unusually long-lived, living well over two thousand years with the aid of occasional rejuvenation treatments.  Heinlein "patterned" Long on science fiction writer Edward E. Smith, mixed with Jack Williamson's fictional Giles Habibula.
  Title: Larry Eisenberg
  Passage: Lawrence (Larry) Eisenberg (born December 21, 1919) is a science fiction writer.  He is best known for his short story "What Happened to Auguste Clarot? ," published in Harlan Ellison's anthology "Dangerous Visions".  Eisenberg's stories have also been printed in a number of leading science fiction magazines, including "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", "Galaxy Science Fiction", and "Asimov's Science Fiction".  His stories have been reprinted in anthologies such as "Great Science Fiction of the 20th Century", "The 10th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F", and "Great Science Fiction By the World's Great Scientists".  He is also known for the limericks he posts in the comments sections of various articles in "The New York Times".
  Title: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
  Passage: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1985.  Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.
  Title: Donald Wandrei
  Passage: Donald Albert Wandrei (April 20, 1908 – October 15, 1987) was an American science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction writer, poet and editor.  He was the older brother of science fiction writer and artist Howard Wandrei.  He had fourteen stories in "Weird Tales", another sixteen in "Astounding Stories", plus a few in other magazines including "Esquire".  He was the co-founder (with August Derleth) of the prestigious fantasy/horror publishing house Arkham House.
citations: Robert A. Heinlein Lazarus Long