{"id":76019,"date":"2026-08-31T07:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T11:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=76019"},"modified":"2026-08-31T11:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T15:07:56","slug":"roberts-obits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/roberts-obits\/","title":{"rendered":"A Veteran Journalist on Why the \u2018Art of the Obit\u2019 Is Alive and Well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his new book, New York Times<\/em> writer Sam Roberts \u201968 unpacks the craft of chronicling a life well lived<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

His name was Anthony Martignetti, and when he was 12 years old in 1969, he appeared in a now-iconic TV commercial for Prince spaghetti, playing a version of himself: an Italian immigrant boy running home for dinner in Boston\u2019s North End.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ad, which ran for 14 years, was the beginning and end of Martignetti\u2019s acting career, and he lived out his life in relative anonymity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when he passed away at age 63, that childhood brush with fame earned him a measure of immortality: a news obituary<\/a> in the New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Sam<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That obit, and more than 1,600 others, was penned by Sam Roberts \u201968<\/a>. The Arts & Sciences alum and former Daily Sun<\/em> managing editor has been on the paper\u2019s obituary desk for more than a decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he has written a memoir about his beat, cheekily titled Are They Dead Yet?<\/em><\/a>: The Art of the Obit<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booklist<\/em> calls it \u201clively, entertaining, deeply perceptive, and occasionally very funny\u201d and \u201cone of those books that gives us a new appreciation and greater understanding of something we thought we already knew\u201d; Kirkus<\/em> lauds it as a \u201cbrisk, witty look at writing about the dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booklist<\/em> calls Are They Dead Yet?<\/em> \u201clively, entertaining, deeply perceptive, and occasionally very funny\u201d and \u201cone of those books that gives us a new appreciation and greater understanding of something we thought we already knew.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Published by Bloomsbury, the volume not only takes readers behind the scenes of how the nation\u2019s \u201cpaper of record\u201d decides whom to cover out of the roughly 150,000 humans who pass away on an average day, but parses some of the obits bearing Roberts\u2019s byline and traces the history of the obituary as a journalistic form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>
\n

\u201cDeath be not proud. As an obituarist, when we confide our profession, people tend to shy away. The revelation can be a conversation stopper,\u201d Roberts writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut even when the reporting leans impersonal and crafting the prose is solitary and fleeting, obituary writing is a collaborative process. You really can\u2019t write an obituary without its costing someone else their life. The obit, online especially, becomes a memorial that is universal, accessible, and eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the book, as in a recent chat with Cornellians<\/em>, Roberts is quick to address the elephant in the room: no, he assures us, writing obits isn\u2019t a ghoulish endeavor. In fact, it\u2019s not about death at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about people\u2019s lives; death is mentioned in one sentence, in one paragraph,\u201d he says. \u201cIn effect, these are mini biographies that explain why certain people were transformative, why they are intrinsically interesting, and what lessons we can learn from their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Roberts has written about his share of bold-faced names, his byline isn\u2019t generally found on obits of superstars or heads of state; rather, he tends to tell of lives lived not entirely out of the media spotlight, but less in its relentless glare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In effect, these are mini biographies that explain why certain people were transformative, why they are intrinsically interesting, and what lessons we can learn from their lives.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A sampling of headlines: \u201cLewis Berman, Veterinarian to the Stars, Is Dead at 90\u201d; \u201cBrigitte Gerney, \u2018Crane Lady\u2019 Who Survived Collapse, Dies at 85\u201d; \u201cSi Spiegel, War Hero Who Modernized Christmas Trees, Dies at 99\u201d; \u201cStew Leonard Sr. Dies at 93; Founded \u2018Disneyland of Dairy Stores.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts has even covered the passings of some fellow Cornellians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam
1968 Cornellian<\/em><\/figcaption>
During his days as a Daily Sun<\/em> managing editor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

They include bestselling thriller writer Thomas Perry \u201969; psychiatrist Michael Stone \u201954, MD \u201958, who studied evil; whale biologist Roger Payne, PhD \u201962; and Florence Berger, PhD \u201979, a Cornell prof who, Roberts noted in her obit, \u201cfound a second calling as a pro bono matchmaker, leading her to successfully arrange some two dozen marriages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Roberts relishes chronicling any life well lived, he admits a particular fondness for the more offbeat stories of people whose impact on history was glancing yet notable\u2014from Martignetti (beloved by a generation of TV viewers) to Jack Garman, who was a 24-year-old NASA engineer when he made a key decision that saved Apollo 11<\/em>\u2019s lunar landing from being scrubbed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As part of the Times<\/em>\u2019 \u201cOverlooked No More<\/a>\u201d series\u2014which aims to offset the fact that the lion\u2019s share of its obits have historically gone to white men\u2014Roberts penned a belated tribute to Ruth Wakefield, inventor of the Toll House Cookie, who passed away in 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was his 2022 obit on the creator of a product familiar to many a beachgoer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRon Rice, a high school chemistry teacher who had been trained to explore for oil, but who instead made a fortune by concocting coconut-laced suntan lotion in a 20-gallon garbage can in his garage and seductively branding it Hawaiian Tropic, died on May 19 in Daytona Beach,\u201d Roberts wrote, going on to chronicle how a \u201cdirt-poor boy from North Carolina\u2019s Blue Ridge Mountains\u201d made good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts has even covered the passings of some fellow Cornellians, including bestselling thriller writer Thomas Perry \u201969 and psychiatrist Michael Stone \u201954, MD \u201958, who studied evil.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMr. Rice\u2019s 12,000-square-foot home \u2026 housed a disco and an indoor-outdoor pool. He owned an 80-foot yacht and a Lamborghini that he lent to Burt Reynolds for the film The Cannonball Run<\/em>,\u201d Roberts continued, winding up to a kicker of an ending:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a reminder of his roots, and a testament to his success, Mr. Rice placed in his living room the garbage can in which he had perfected the formula for Hawaiian Tropic. He had it silver plated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n
The NYC native has written a number of books about his hometown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Brooklyn native who\u2019d long had his eye on a journalism career, Roberts majored in government in Arts & Sciences. (His obit subjects would eventually include legendary history professor Walter LaFeber<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in college, he spent a dismal summer working as a copyboy at the Times<\/em>. \u201cThe best thing about it,\u201d he recalls, \u201cwas I got out of my system the notion that the be-all and end-all of my career had to be working at the New York Times<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spent 15 years at the Daily News<\/em> before moving over to the Times<\/em>, where he has had various roles over the decades, including reporter, editor, and columnist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam
His book-laden office at the Times<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roberts has also published numerous books, many about NYC\u2014among them Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America<\/em>; A History of New York in 101 Objects<\/em>; and Only in New York: An Exploration of the World\u2019s Most Fascinating, Frustrating, and Irrepressible City.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his latest, Roberts unpacks myriad details about obituaries, like the basic difference between a news obit and a paid death notice\u2014a distinction that, to his amazement, even the families of prominent personages sometimes don\u2019t grasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberts spent 15 years at the Daily News<\/em> before moving over to the Times<\/em>, where he has had various roles over the decades, including reporter, editor, and columnist.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the record: the former is produced under the same guidelines as any journalism, while the latter is essentially an ad, written by whoever buys the space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn a paid obituary, you can put anything you want, true or not true,\u201d Roberts explains. \u201cIn a news obituary, we try to be as honest\u2014perhaps, sometimes brutally honest\u2014about the person as we can, and often that rubs people the wrong way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sam
Claire Lambrecht \u201906, MBA \u201915<\/figcaption>
Signing his Grand Central book at the Cornell Club in NYC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Are They Dead Yet?<\/em>, Roberts describes writerly struggles with how to acknowledge missteps in otherwise worthy lives, and why it\u2019s valid to include details that humanize even the most despicable departed, like murderers and terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Roberts notes, out of all the Times\u2019<\/em> coverage, obituaries generally garner the most outraged feedback\u2014either because readers (or families) are upset about something they did or didn\u2019t include, or because the dense biographies make them more likely to contain factual errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In a paid obituary, you can put anything you want, true or not true. In a news obituary, we try to be as honest\u2014perhaps, sometimes brutally honest\u2014about the person as we can, and often that rubs people the wrong way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most tantalizingly, Roberts takes a deep dive into something about which laypeople may be unaware: the established practice of writing advance obituaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes based on interviews with the subjects themselves, advances allow news organizations to publish a fully realized obit, complete with photos, quickly after a notable death becomes known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have about 2,000 in the hopper\u2014never enough,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cSomeone always surprises us and dies unexpectedly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(All images provided, unless otherwise indicated.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published August 31, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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