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Died. Franz von Papen, 89, German diplomat and politician who loomed large in Hitler's rise to power; of a virus infection; in Oberasbach, West Germany. Germans called him "the sly old fox of politics." He was actually a chronic blunderer who had the aristocratic connections and great good luck to survive his gaffes. As a World War I military attaché in the U.S., his fumbling attempts at espionage and sabotage led to his expulsion. As a postwar politician, his machinations finally gained him the chancellorship in 1932, whereupon he brought Hitler into the government—and swiftly found himself superseded. He then served the Führer, first as Vice Chancellor and later as ambassador to Turkey until war's end, when he was convicted of being a major Nazi offender and sentenced to eight years in a labor camp. His sentence was later reduced to two years.