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Re: Obituaries vs Death Notices



Looking at the online edition of today's Washington Post, I see that
what is being discussed is an _Obituary_ for Jon Reynolds.  I'll bet
that on January 3 or 4 there was a very brief _Death Notice_ (with just
a few facts, including cause of death and funeral or memorial
arrangements) in the print edition. Obituaries (with text about the
accomplishments and professional and/or social recognition of the
subject)--except for very prominent figures for whom papers like the NY
and LA Times have copy ready to update and print the same
day--typically take from several days to a couple of weeks to appear.
Most papers--again except the LA and NY Times and some others (note,
for example, the long, bylined Obituary on pitcher Bob Lemon in the
same edition of the Post)--have not retained sufficient staff to
research and write new obituaries by deadline the same day as the death
notice appears.  The tribute to Jon Reynolds was probably written by a
staff member who made a couple of calls to his associates or excerpted
a press release from Georgetown University.  Don't fault the paper for
being late, but instead be glad they at least wrote an obituary on a
member of our profession.

Russell Johnson


On Thu, 13 Jan 2000 10:26:43 EST Margaret Shannon <ShannonRBL@AOL.COM>
wrote:

> I, too, was just stunned to read of Jon's sudden death in The Washington Post
> this morning.  (Why today, when he died on January 2, only The Post obit
> writers could explain, but won't).  ...

___________________________________________________
Russell A. Johnson        rjohnson@library.ucla.edu

Archivist and Cataloger              (310) 825-6940
History & Special Collections Division
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA
Box 951798     Los Angeles CA  90095-1798
<http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/hisdiv.htm>

Archivist              (310) 825-3191  or  206-2753
Neuroscience History Archives
Brain Research Institute, UCLA
Box 951761     Los Angeles CA  90095-1761
<http://www.medsch.ucla.edu/som/bri/archives/nhahome.htm>

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