many dealers from deserting VW at a critical time for the company's American operations. In July 1988, however, the Pennsylvania plant—a factory Fuller himself believed was a questionable idea—closed due to declining Golf sales. He had been instrumental in orchestrating the arrival of the Passat and Corrado in 1990, keeping them mostly in-line with their German roots, and he had also been a major part of the (ultimately unsuccessful) effort to bring the Rallye Golf, a four-wheel-drive, supercharged motorsport model of the Golf, to the U.S. In December 1988, Fuller and VW marketing director Lou Marengo were flying home from a meeting with Volkswagen executives in Germany when they were killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The deaths of Fuller and Marengo were a major blow to Volkswagen of America, but Fuller had given the company a sense of focus that would allow it to recover in the 1990s. Sources Ceppos, Rich, Car and Driver , November 1982. Kiley, David, "Getting The Bugs Out: The Rise, Fall and Comeback of Volkswagen in America", Adweek, 2002. 1938 births 1988 deaths American people murdered abroad American terrorism victims Deaths by explosive device Pan Am Flight 103 victims People in the automobile industry Volkswagen Group executives