I Wrote An Obituary For Someone Who Was Still Alive — Lessons from My Worst Work Screwup Ever
I’m making this public confession to share the most important lesson of my career. Never — not even “just this once” — cut corners to meet a deadline. You might get away with it a few times. But trust me, it can end in humiliating disaster.
Yes, I prematurely buried someone, though only in print. But I can explain…
For many years, I wrote for a major national newspaper. The paper was famous but I was not — mostly I reported for a regional section, covering whatever happened in a specific county in New York.
It was a great gig, but every year an onerous assignment rolled around, dubbed “The Lives They Lived.” These were obituaries of people who lived in the county, died the previous calendar year, and made an impact on their community.
I had a good deal of leeway in choosing who to include. It might be a well-known politician or artist, but it also included teachers, devoted volunteers, a compassionate veterinarian, and others who may have been under the radar but affected many lives.
The assignment was a bear. This was in the Before Time — during the 1990s and the early aughts, when print newspapers had loads of advertisements and plenty of room for copy. The damn thing ran for pages…
