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61-485: An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles . Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. According to Nigel Farndale , the Obituaries Editor of The Times , obituaries ought to be "balanced accounts" written in a "deadpan" style, and should not read like

122-509: A death notice , usually appears in the Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) section of a paper and omits most biographical details and may be a legally required public notice under some circumstances. The other type, a paid memorial advertisement , is usually written by family members or friends, perhaps with assistance from a funeral home . Both types of paid advertisements are usually run as classified advertisements. The word also applies to

183-434: A hagiography . In local newspapers, an obituary may be published for any local resident upon death. A necrology is a register or list of records of the deaths of people related to a particular organization, group or field, which may only contain the sparsest details, or small obituaries. Historical necrologies can be important sources of information. Two types of paid advertisements are related to obituaries. One, known as

244-400: A "revolution" in obituaries. He replaced the traditional litany of names and dates with biographical essays that conveyed the "flavor" of a person, engaged their specific, sometimes "abstruse", expertise, and placed them in the sweep of history. Whitman, intent on presenting complicated lives without funereal gloss or editorial censure, called the approach "many-sided"; Halberstam, emphasizing

305-542: A "sleepy corner of journalism", publications in the Internet age have invested more resources in preparing advance obituaries for rapid publication online, in order to meet widespread public interest; obituaries can attract millions of readers online within days of their subjects' deaths. The New York Times maintains a "deep reservoir" of advance obituaries, estimated to stand at roughly 1,850 as of 2021 . The paper often interviews notables specifically for their obituaries,

366-482: A "sleepy corner of journalism", publications in the Internet age have invested more resources in preparing advance obituaries for rapid publication online, in order to meet widespread public interest; obituaries can attract millions of readers online within days of their subjects' deaths. The New York Times maintains a "deep reservoir" of advance obituaries, estimated to stand at roughly 1,850 as of 2021. The paper often interviews notables specifically for their obituaries,

427-547: A book on farm poverty for International Publishers ; wrote anti-Hitler speeches for a veterans organization; raised money on behalf of the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy ; served as press agent at Films for Democracy, which aimed to produce leftist movies with Hollywood appeal; and edited cables for Soviet news agency TASS . With the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of August 1939,

488-589: A broader oral history beyond. He served as special advisor to the Columbia University Center for Oral History Research and wrote book reviews to promote oral histories and oral autobiographies, especially those that gave voice to the illiterate, oppressed or ignored. Speaking to the Oral History Association in 1974, Whitman said: To understand ourselves as people, I believe we must know so much more than we do now about

549-454: A common theme, such as military obituaries, sports obituaries, heroes and adventurers, entertainers, rogues, eccentric lives, etc. The British Medical Journal encourages doctors to write their own obituaries for publication after their death. For numerous summer seasons, CBC Radio One has run The Late Show , a radio documentary series which presents extended obituaries of interesting Canadians . Alden Whitman Whitman

610-484: A common theme, such as military obituaries, sports obituaries, heroes and adventurers, entertainers, rogues, eccentric lives, etc. The British Medical Journal encourages doctors to write their own obituaries for publication after their death. For numerous summer seasons, CBC Radio One has run The Late Show , a radio documentary series which presents extended obituaries of interesting Canadians . obit#Etymology 2 An obituary ( obit for short)

671-716: A decade after the investigation of Communists in Hollywood , Congress turned its attention to the press, particularly The New York Times . In July 1955 and January 1956, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee summoned 34 alleged Communists as witnesses, 18 of them with past or present ties to the Times , Whitman among them. FBI files, released much later, had identified Whitman as a Communist in 1941 and, based on reports from an undercover informant, characterized him as an influential member of

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732-476: A final act, was turning his building and marketing skills on his unproven successor by propping him up in Manhattan and crediting him with this very power of alchemy: "Everything he touches turns to gold," Whitman quoted Fred, introducing a phrase that would echo through the 2016 election. While Whitman was resigned to the conventional wealth-and-fame criteria for inclusion on the obituary page, he championed

793-928: A general rule, when lives are long enough, accomplished enough and complex enough that we would just as soon not get caught short writing them on deadline, advances are assigned". Consequently, many public figures who die unexpectedly or prematurely will have no obituary available at a given publication, and journalists will be left to research and write lengthy articles on short notice. However, Farhi noted that advance obituaries of younger people will occasionally be prepared if they are known to have health problems or "chaotic lives"; The Washington Post had an advance obituary for singer Amy Winehouse , whose struggles with substance abuse were widely chronicled before her death at age 27. In another case, Nigel Farndale , an obituaries editor for The Times , said that in April 2020, when news broke that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

854-872: A general rule, when lives are long enough, accomplished enough and complex enough that we would just as soon not get caught short writing them on deadline, advances are assigned". Consequently, many public figures who die unexpectedly or prematurely will have no obituary available at a given publication, and journalists will be left to research and write lengthy articles on short notice. However, Farhi noted that advance obituaries of younger people will occasionally be prepared if they are known to have health problems or "chaotic lives"; The Washington Post had an advance obituary for singer Amy Winehouse , whose struggles with substance abuse were widely chronicled before her death at age 27. In another case, Nigel Farndale , an obituaries editor for The Times , said that in April 2020, when news broke that then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

915-679: A member of the Socialist Club and Party , then edged leftward to the communist-led National Student League . In February 1933, he eloped, "an act", he later interpreted, "of adolescent revolt". His parents withdrew financial support and helped him get a job with a local manufacturer. There, under the sway of union orators, he joined the Communist Party . "It was a fully considered step," Whitman stated in 1984, "and one I've never regretted. Through my membership and because of it, I have, I hope, been able to make some contribution to

976-487: A neglected gap in the newsroom in order to write freely. Opportunity came late in 1964 as the contempt case headed towards dismissal and an outsize, multi-author, genre-busting Churchill obituary fell into disarray. Whitman was tasked with the clean-up. When he succeeded, editors asked him to carry forward the new formula. "There was a sense," Halberstam recalled, "that whatever leftist bent he had couldn't really hurt people in death." During his eleven years as head of

1037-491: A new Russian revolutionary government before Lenin and the Bolsheviks ran him into exile. "For the remainder of his life," according to Whitman, Kerensky "passed his time in fulminations". While their interview generated a front page article several days after it was conducted, the obituary contained only a single, brief snippet, epitomizing Kerensky's purgatory: "He expressed a nostalgic desire to return to his native land if

1098-431: A paper and omits most biographical details and may be a legally required public notice under some circumstances. The other type, a paid memorial advertisement , is usually written by family members or friends, perhaps with assistance from a funeral home . Both types of paid advertisements are usually run as classified advertisements. The word also applies to the entire program and the part of that program describing

1159-513: A practice begun by Alden Whitman in 1966. As of 2021 , The Washington Post has about 900 advance obituaries on file, and entertainment publication The Hollywood Reporter has prepared 800 advances for notable figures in the film and television industry. An advance obituary is usually not written until the subject has reached old age, as the earlier a profile is written, the more additions and revisions it will likely require. Former New York Times obituary writer Margalit Fox wrote that "as

1220-509: A practice begun by Alden Whitman in 1966. As of 2021, The Washington Post has about 900 advance obituaries on file, and entertainment publication The Hollywood Reporter has prepared 800 advances for notable figures in the film and television industry. An advance obituary is usually not written until the subject has reached old age, as the earlier a profile is written, the more additions and revisions it will likely require. Former New York Times obituary writer Margalit Fox wrote that "as

1281-660: A premature death notice or obituary as a malicious hoax, perhaps to gain revenge on the "deceased". To that end, nearly all newspapers now have policies requiring that death notices come from a reliable source (such as a funeral home ), though even this has not stopped some pranksters such as Alan Abel . Many news organizations maintain prewritten (or preedited video) obituaries on file for notable individuals who are still living, in order to promptly publish detailed, authoritative, and lengthy obituaries upon their deaths. These are also known as "advance" obituaries. The Los Angeles Times ' obituary of Elizabeth Taylor , for example,

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1342-658: A premature death notice or obituary as a malicious hoax, perhaps to gain revenge on the "deceased". To that end, nearly all newspapers now have policies requiring that death notices come from a reliable source (such as a funeral home ), though even this has not stopped some pranksters such as Alan Abel . Many news organizations maintain prewritten (or preedited video) obituaries on file for notable individuals who are still living, in order to promptly publish detailed, authoritative, and lengthy obituaries upon their deaths. These are also known as "advance" obituaries. The Los Angeles Times ' obituary of Elizabeth Taylor , for example,

1403-423: A rarity, done for "no more than ten percent" of obituaries. The object wasn't more material—Whitman's famous interlocutors already offered plenty—so much as refinement, focus, "a glimpse of the inner person". Indeed, the bulk of what he heard appeared in feature stories while subjects remained very much alive; the merest nuggets "filtered into obits". Consider, for example, Alexander Kerensky , briefly leader of

1464-516: A series of Communist-linked, issue-focused groups. Internally, these were conceived as a " United " or " Popular Front " embracing multiple, home-grown leftist constituencies. However, Congress would later label all of the organizations " Communist fronts " and call Whitman to account. As he outlined in public testimony, Whitman began at the National Committee for People's Rights, a labor advocacy group; then assisted Anna Rochester with

1525-403: Is a register or list of records of the deaths of people related to a particular organization, group or field, which may only contain the sparsest details, or small obituaries. Historical necrologies can be important sources of information. Two types of paid advertisements are related to obituaries. One, known as a death notice , usually appears in the Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMD) section of

1586-502: Is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles . Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. According to Nigel Farndale , the Obituaries Editor of The Times , obituaries ought to be "balanced accounts" written in a "deadpan" style, and should not read like a hagiography . In local newspapers, an obituary may be published for any local resident upon death. A necrology

1647-641: The Chicago Tribune , Los Angeles Times and, of course, The New York Times itself. His final published review, of Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Empire , afforded yet another contemplation of Marx and capitalism. As David Halberstam remarked, "He kept going. I mean, it was quite an heroic career." In the 1980s Whitman suffered a debilitating stroke which left him blind. His wife, Joan, hired several Long Island University college students to come to their home in Southampton, New York, to engage in

1708-522: The New York Herald Tribune , where he remained for more than eight years, often working the overnight "lobster shift". Like many of his colleagues, Whitman remembered the paper, which folded in 1966, with pride: "We got out an intelligent, well-written, well-edited paper—the best in the city, better than the gray Times —and we did it with great professional eclat and had a good time doing it." Alongside some ten other party members at

1769-672: The Communist Party turned against the war , and Whitman followed suit, joining the New York Peace Committee. Finally, he worked at the American Committee for the Protection of Foreign Born , a legal defense group for immigrants. When the last of these positions lost funding, in late 1941, Whitman resumed local journalism, this time as a copy editor ("copyreader" was the term at the time ). He started at The Buffalo Evening News , then, in 1943, joined

1830-538: The First Amendment and an "extremely active New England conscience," to name any colleagues as party members. "The investigative process," read his statement, "like the legislative power to which it is an adjunct" must not impinge on the "beliefs, associations, and activities of individuals connected with the press". Fellow journalists Seymour Peck , Robert Shelton , and William Price responded similarly. All four were cited for contempt of Congress . Whitman

1891-539: The Tribune , Whitman also worked behind the scenes, as he recalled, "doing what good Communists were expected to do—to be active in building the union." But the political mood was changing. Decades later, in his obituary for former U.S. Communist Party leader Earl Browder , Whitman looked back at the period he himself was most active in the party: The zenith of Communist influence in the United States occurred in

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1952-528: The funeral home , often resulting in embarrassment for everyone involved. In November 2020, Radio France Internationale accidentally published about 100 prewritten obituaries for celebrities such as Queen Elizabeth II and Clint Eastwood . The premature publication was blamed on a transition to a new content management system . Irish author Brendan Behan said, "there is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary." In this regard, some people seek to have an unsuspecting newspaper editor publish

2013-527: The funeral home , often resulting in embarrassment for everyone involved. In November 2020, Radio France Internationale accidentally published about 100 prewritten obituaries for celebrities such as Queen Elizabeth II and Clint Eastwood . The premature publication was blamed on a transition to a new content management system . Irish author Brendan Behan said, "there is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary." In this regard, some people seek to have an unsuspecting newspaper editor publish

2074-637: The Communist Party expelled Browder and repudiated the coalition strategy. In turn, by 1948, anti-communists within the Newspaper Guild pushed Whitman out of his organizing role and the paper's ownership began to root out communist influence in the newsroom. Around that time, Whitman left the party. In his 1984 memoirs, Whitman insisted he never dropped his "Marxist orientation," and offered two explanations for "suspending" his "technical membership". First, disagreement on tactics: he believed

2135-500: The Newspaper Guild. During the period, Whitman divorced wife number two, married wife number three and suffered a heart attack, yet the defining phase of his journalistic career still lay ahead. Whitman remained at the Times , albeit with few bylines, throughout the McCarthyist ordeal. Colleague David Halberstam suggested Whitman was effectively " blacklisted " and, like "a plant trying to grow through concrete", had to find

2196-610: The U.S. party's "uncritical support of Soviet policy" ignored "valid national differences on the road to Socialism." Second, self-preservation: he wanted to take "cover" from the "Truman-McCarthy cold war." Whitman continued at the Tribune until 1951, when he took his copy editing talents to its chief competitor, The New York Times . "Whitman left entirely of his own volition, for a more economically secure workplace" according to Tribune historian and colleague Richard Kluger , "but his politics had plainly endangered him". Months after Joseph McCarthy's political downfall and nearly

2257-510: The authorities 'will not silence me.'" Whitman was also the first journalist to write about Donald Trump and put the future president's words in print. In 1973, Whitman interviewed the 26-year-old Donald alongside his 67-year-old father, Fred , to prepare for the latter's death. While the obituary waited until 1999, the interview resulted in a contemporaneous profile of the duo. There, Whitman, with his attention to legacy, portrayed Fred Trump as an accomplished real estate "alchem[ist]" who, in

2318-506: The entire program and the part of that program describing the life of the deceased. It is given to those who attend their service. The verso page heading may be Obituary or Reflections , the recto heading is usually Order of Service . A premature obituary is a false reporting of the death of a person who is still alive. It may occur due to unexpected survival of someone who was close to death. Other reasons for such publication might be miscommunication between newspapers, family members, and

2379-473: The following few years. Insurance mogul James S. Kemper , who died in 1981, was the subject of Whitman's last published obituary; it began, "[He] was very rich." Upon retiring from the Times , Whitman picked up the pace of his book reviews, focusing on biography, memoir and history. He contributed regularly to Newsday , Harper's Bookletter , and The Chronicle of Higher Education 's short-lived Books & Arts , and appeared in such newspapers as

2440-537: The fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence." Upon saving enough to resume college the following year, Whitman wrote his senior thesis on "Strategies and tactics of the Communist Party in the United States." Whitman's communist beliefs often got in the way of his journalism career. After graduating in 1935, Whitman wrote full-time for the Bridgeport Post-Telegram , but

2501-486: The historically unglamorous, apolitical and byline-free obituary desk, Whitman penned Churchill-style memorials to some 400 other notables— Ho Chi Minh , Pablo Picasso Helen Keller , Haile Selassie , J. Robert Oppenheimer , and on and on. In almost every case, Whitman drafted the piece well in advance and periodically revised it until the subject's death. By 1967, obituaries began to carry his byline. Reviewers recognized Whitman as "theoretician and executor" of

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2562-445: The life of the deceased. It is given to those who attend their service. The verso page heading may be Obituary or Reflections , the recto heading is usually Order of Service . A premature obituary is a false reporting of the death of a person who is still alive. It may occur due to unexpected survival of someone who was close to death. Other reasons for such publication might be miscommunication between newspapers, family members, and

2623-585: The lives and thoughts of those groups that comprise the multitude, people, to use a nasty phrase, in the 'subcultures'—the Black, the poor, the Hispanics, the women, the Chicanos. We need to know about their beliefs, their attitudes, their games, their work-lives, their flashpoints, their self-images, their aspirations. Whitman retired from the Times in 1976, though remaining advance obituaries would appear over

2684-422: The long advance preparation, saw Whitman as a "jewel cutter"; Gay Talese , in a 1966 profile of Whitman, highlighted the roving curiosity of his "marvelous, magpie mind". Whitman's opening sentence on J. B. S. Haldane demonstrates the mix of perspectives: Facially Professor Haldane resembled Rudyard Kipling; epigrammatically he took after George Bernard Shaw; politically he followed Karl Marx; but in science he

2745-562: The other journalists convicted of contempt staged their defense years earlier "they would have faced the more severe punishment meted out to the Hollywood Ten , who had raised similar issues." In the event, Whitman retained his freedom, but was "exhausted by the strain" of sustaining a legal defense with a rotating crew of volunteers, intermittent support from the American Civil Liberties Union and none from

2806-412: The party as late as 1953. In its editorial pages, the Times argued the investigation was motivated by opposition to "the character of the news" it published. It reiterated its stance against employing current members of the Communist Party but insisted the committee would not "determine in any way the policies of this newspaper". In reality, the fallout was immediate. Upon receiving a subpoena, Whitman

2867-484: The recommendation of Times managing editor and Truman son-in-law Clifton Daniel . This amiable encounter became Whitman's model: "semistructured conversation", as he put it, " sub specie aeternitatis ." The public, however, was intrigued by the potential awkwardness. "Aren't such interviews ghoulish?" came the inevitable question, earning Whitman magazine profiles, a Tonight Show appearance, and an overall "bit of fame". Despite their notoriety, interviews were

2928-511: The years from 1930 to 1946, when ... Mr. Browder's party, laying claim to native radicalism, attained a membership of 100,000 and, through a network of friendly organizations, exerted a considerable effect on American affairs. Whitman's biography mirrored this history. He had ventured into communism as a "native" radical contending with the Great Depression, and worked diligently within the "network of friendly organizations". In 1946,

2989-467: The years than any piece we've ever run". Work on it began in 1959, and it went through many subsequent iterations. Well into the 21st century, the visual layout for the obituary was substantially modified to match changes in the paper's page size, and a presentation for its digital edition cycled through different slideshow and video formats to match advances in Internet download speeds. The newspaper began drafting an obituary for Queen Elizabeth II when she

3050-466: The years than any piece we've ever run". Work on it began in 1959, and it went through many subsequent iterations. Well into the 21st century, the visual layout for the obituary was substantially modified to match changes in the paper's page size, and a presentation for its digital edition cycled through different slideshow and video formats to match advances in Internet download speeds. The newspaper began drafting an obituary for Queen Elizabeth II when she

3111-503: Was born in 1913 on his father's farm in New Albany, Nova Scotia . From age two, he lived in his mother's native Connecticut, where both parents taught high school. He showed early interest in journalism, contributing to the local Bridgeport Post-Telegram at 15. "It was like somebody opening up the heavens," Whitman recalled. Activism, another lifelong theme, became evident in college. Whitman began his Harvard studies in 1930 as

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3172-492: Was convicted in 1957. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1962 on narrow technical grounds, and Whitman was re-indicted and re-convicted by the Department of Justice under Robert Kennedy . Finally, in 1964, the department moved to dismiss the case, which was formally dropped on November 29, 1965. In his book on the investigation, Edward Alwood argues that Whitman ran out the clock on McCarthyism . Had he and

3233-686: Was fired that fall "for attempting to organize a chapter of the American Newspaper Guild ." The union-friendly Bridgeport Sunday Herald took him in. "That was a real writing paper," said Whitman. "That's where I learned to write." Eighteen months later, however, his organizing activities ran afoul of a major local employer, General Electric , and he was back on the street. In 1938, Whitman left his estranged wife and two young children in Bridgeport and followed his future wife to New York City. There, he worked "hand-to-mouth" for

3294-515: Was in an intensive care unit with COVID-19 during the pandemic , he was under considerable pressure to quickly prepare an obituary that could be immediately published if Johnson died from the disease. Still, for particularly major figures, advance obituaries may be drafted early in their lives and revised constantly throughout the following years or decades. Bill McDonald , obituaries editor of The New York Times , estimated in 2016 that Fidel Castro 's obituary "cost us more man/woman hours over

3355-514: Was in an intensive care unit with COVID-19 during the pandemic , he was under considerable pressure to quickly prepare an obituary that could be immediately published if Johnson died from the disease. Still, for particularly major figures, advance obituaries may be drafted early in their lives and revised constantly throughout the following years or decades. Bill McDonald , obituaries editor of The New York Times , estimated in 2016 that Fidel Castro 's obituary "cost us more man/woman hours over

3416-439: Was indubitably John Burdon Sanderson Haldane. To inform his work, Whitman deployed the primary tool of other journalists, namely, the interview. "In all the history of journalism, including the caves," Sidney Zion wrote in an obituary of Whitman himself, "nobody ever thought to draw the future dead into their own obituaries". Whitman conducted his first obituary-focused interview with former U.S. president Harry Truman in 1966 at

3477-507: Was still heir apparent , and it was rewritten in its entirety multiple times until her death in 2022. Obituaries are a notable feature of The Economist , which publishes one full-page obituary per week, reflecting on the subject's life and influence on world history. Past subjects have ranged from Ray Charles to Uday Hussein to George Floyd . The Times and the Daily Telegraph publish anthologies of obituaries under

3538-442: Was still heir apparent , and it was rewritten in its entirety multiple times until her death in 2022. Obituaries are a notable feature of The Economist , which publishes one full-page obituary per week, reflecting on the subject's life and influence on world history. Past subjects have ranged from Ray Charles to Uday Hussein to George Floyd . The Times and the Daily Telegraph publish anthologies of obituaries under

3599-571: Was stripped of supervisory responsibilities and demoted to his original copy editing position, or, as he put it, "bumped all the way back to the rim". Lawyers at the Times met with each witness to demand a full accounting and warn them that hiding behind the Fifth Amendment was cause for dismissal. Under public questioning in the Senate, Whitman acknowledged prior Communist affiliation but denied any seditious intent and refused, based on

3660-513: Was written in 1999 after three months of research, then often updated before the actress' 2011 death. Quite often the prewritten obituary's subject outlives its author. One example is The New York Times ' obituary of Taylor, written by the newspaper's theater critic Mel Gussow , who died in 2005. The 2023 obituary of Henry Kissinger featured reporting by Michael T. Kaufman , who died almost 14 years earlier in 2010. Writing in 2021, Paul Farhi of The Washington Post observed that while once

3721-510: Was written in 1999 after three months of research, then often updated before the actress' 2011 death. Quite often the prewritten obituary's subject outlives its author. One example is The New York Times ' obituary of Taylor, written by the newspaper's theater critic Mel Gussow , who died in 2005. The 2023 obituary of Henry Kissinger featured reporting by Michael T. Kaufman , who died almost 14 years earlier in 2010. Writing in 2021, Paul Farhi of The Washington Post observed that while once

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