how to write the biography of a dead person

Guidance about writing an official memorial introduction

We realize you may be asking

So if you are a little uncertain as to what to include in your "official memorial introduction" to people entering your Memorial Matters' Website for your loved one for the first time - here are a few pointers to assist you. This section is a written account of a person’s life and might include:

Of course, please feel free to include whatever you are comfortable with. You might like to discuss it with a member of your family or a friend.

"After fleeing Prague during the uprising in Hungary in 1956, Josef Schumann came to Canada and married Birgetta in 1956, having met her when they both landed at Quebec City from the SS Calendulia from Hamburg. Josef brought his great practical experience as a craftsman furniture maker with him from Hungary (as well as his beloved tool set). By dint of hard work, within ten years he had built his Old Country Craftsmen Furniture Co. in the Bronx into a widely acknowledged leader in its field. Josef actively ran his company until he was 85 in 2006, when his eldest son, Friedrich took over."

How to Write an Obituary

Writing an obituary.

• Their age upon death 
• Birthday 
• Birthplace 
• A list of the surviving relatives 
• Date of death 
• The location (city/state) where they died 
• Details about the funeral service: date, time, place 
• Where the person lived

What's the Difference Between an Obituary and a Death Notice?

The obituary is a longer, more detailed look at the life of the deceased and the death notice is merely a compilation of relevant facts. The obituary also includes those essential details but it expands on them to provide a more complete look at the deceased's life experiences.

Obituary Outline

Other considerations for obituary writing, additional information.

How you document your loved one's life story is up to you. With that said, we recommend that in addition to the facts of a death notice listed above, the enhanced death notice, known as an obituary, could also include these details:

• Parents' names
• Information about the spouse and children
• Church affiliations
• Job or career information
• Personal and professional accomplishments
• Personal character and interests
• Influence on his or her community

Share Memories

It's now time to push the facts aside.

Sit back and think about the anecdotes and memories you could share to shed some light on your loved one's character and personal interests. Bring factual details into play whenever you can to help the reader clearly see who your loved one was, how they lived, what they did, who and what they loved. The more rich in detail, the more memorable the obituary becomes.

Double-Check Spelling & Grammar

Before you give a copy of the final draft of your loved one's obituary, be sure to read it through twice or even three times. You're looking for errors in spelling and grammar but you also want to make sure your facts are straight.

Simple Obituary Example

The below example is fairly simple and short. You can use this as a sort of template where you add in the information applicable to your loved one and your situation. For the most part we have colored in red where to add in your specific information. Hopefully, this gives you a framework if you are looking for a simple obituary that still captures the essence of your loved one. 

[Full Name], aged [age of the deceased], passed away peacefully on [date of death], at [location of death]. He/she was born on [date of birth], in [birthplace], to [names of parents]. He/she was a proud resident of [city of residence] and was a 1975 graduate of Holy Cross High School. He/she married [name of spouse] on [date of marriage], in [location of marriage]. He/she worked as a financial consultant with Truesdell Managemet, displaying wonderful problem solving skills. [First Name] was very outgoing and loved exploring and going on adventures. His/her family and travel were his/her two biggest passions. [First Name] always had the ability to make anyone smile. He/she is survived by her wife/husband, [spouse’s first name]; an older brother, [brother’s name] (name of brother’s spouse) Robertson; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Family, friends, and others are invited to the [Funeral Home name],[Funeral Home address/location], from [time of ceremony] on [date of ceremony], to reminisce and honor the life of [deceased’s first name].

A More In-Depth Obituary Example

Writing a great obituary is very similar to writing a eulogy. In both cases, you want to convey who the deceased was a person, what made them unique, how they influenced others, and highlight their personal and professional accomplishments. 

An excellent example of this is the New York Times obituary written for legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams written by Dave Itzkoff. The obituary that was published is quite lengthy and can be read in full  here . 

The following sections are excerpts from the obituary and serve as excellent examples of how to write an obituary. 

Mr. Williams, as a boy, hardly fit the stereotype of someone who would grow to become a brainy comedian, or a goofy one, but he was both. Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him. His gigs were always rife with frenetic, spot-on impersonations that included Hollywood stars, presidents, princes, prime ministers, popes and anonymous citizens of the world. His irreverence was legendary and uncurtailable. 

This first excerpt does a good job of explaining what Mr. Williams was best known for, his comedy. The excerpt outlines the style of comedy he was best known for while highlighting the talents he had to perform improv and impressions on the spot. It paints a picture of the comedic genius that Robin Williams was. 

He went on to earn Academy Award nominations for his roles in films like “Good Morning, Vietnam,” in which he played a loquacious radio D.J.; “Dead Poets Society,” playing a mentor to students in need of inspiration; and “The Fisher King,” as a homeless man whose life has been struck by tragedy. He won an Oscar in 1998 for “Good Will Hunting,” playing a therapist who works with a troubled prodigy played by Matt Damon. 

This section is a great example of how to highlight successes the individual had during their career. While many people were fans of Mr. Williams for his comedy, he was also an accomplished actor being nominated and winning several awards throughout his career. This shows how there was much more to Mr. Williams than just comedy. He was a talented dramatic actor and had a range of skills that were often under appreciated. 

In a statement, President Obama said of Mr. Williams, “He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most — from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets.” 

It is always a great idea to include a quote or some kind words about the impact the individual had on others. In this case, a quote from President Obama is used to show the charitable side of Mr. Williams and how he enjoyed helping others and giving back. 

He is survived by a son, Zak, from his marriage to Valerie Velardi, and a daughter, Zelda, and a son, Cody, from his marriage to Marsha Garces. 

An important part to include within an obituary is a reference to the deceased’s family. In this case, Mr. Williams had preceded his immediate family in death so it lists who he is survived by. If he had lost someone before him, the obituary would say preceded in death by… and then list who he is survived by. 

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How to write an obituary: what to say about the life of a loved one.

Summarizing a loved one’s life can feel like an impossible task, especially when you’re grieving. It’s even more challenging when you’re not used to writing meaningful stories every day. And that’s what an obituary really is—a true story about someone who mattered to you.

Because you’re here, you’ve probably been given the responsibility of putting the obituary together on top of experiencing the mourning process yourself. Our hearts go out to you. But writing a meaningful obituary can also feel very cathartic: Think of it as a way to revisit good memories, share old stories and find some comfort.

Inspired? Create and share by tagging @HallmarkStores .

We have some ideas on how to represent your family member or friend in a way that feels genuine. We hope this can help and guide you as you begin to tell their story.

• How to Announce a Death on Social Media
• What to Write in an Obituary
• How to Write an Obituary with Personality

How to Announce a Death on Social Media  

The first way many people widely share news about a loved one’s death is on social media or a blog (either personal or a site like CaringBridge).  

A death announcement on social media can be short and simple, with a note that more information—like service details and a full obituary—is to come. This initial message is just about getting the word out.

Essentials to include in a social media death announcement:

• Who the person was to you (parent, sibling, grandparent, friend, etc.).
• That they’ve passed away. (How much detail you include is entirely up to you.)
• Positive attributes, a few heartfelt words or how you’re feeling.  
• Optional: A photo and any important details or links you want to share, like an obituary or blog post with more information, such as CaringBridge.

Examples of what to write in a social media death announcement:

• Dearest friends and family, we are deeply saddened to announce that our adored dad, Sonny Silvercreek, passed away Friday night, leaving behind many memories with those he loved.
• Sad news: My sister left this earth late last evening. She was never a morning person, so true to her night-owl self, she flew off in the wee hours to her next adventure. For those who didn’t know, Rosemary was living with a kidney condition that caused her to say goodbye way too soon. (Read Rosemary’s story on her CaringBridge page.) Thank you for your support.
• To my family and friends: It is with a very heavy heart that I share that our Jaime left this life yesterday afternoon. They struggled fitting into this world, but it never took away from the world of blessings they gave to us. Jaime, we love you and hope you have finally found everlasting peace and joy.  

What to Write in an Obituary  

An obituary can be traditional and straightforward or expressive and full of personality—or anywhere in between. Below, we’ll cover the expected parts of an obituary and provide examples of writing for you to personalize or use as thought-starters.  

Start with the facts

Obituaries typically begin with information about who someone was and the announcement that they’ve died. These are the most common:    

• Name: Preferably their full name, plus any nicknames, maiden names or changed names. Allow for prefixes and suffixes, like Dr., Sir, Rev., Jr., etc. Use proper pronouns, and if there’s any question, ask family for clarification.
• Age: This can be done by simply stating it, noting their birth and death dates or doing both.
• Who they were: This can include a range of roles, both personal and professional. Examples: Father, mom, teacher, skydiver, chef, friend, baby sister, peacemaker, party planner, etc.  
• Date they died: This is optional and can be omitted if there are concerns about publishing too much info.
• Where they lived and died: You can include the city or cities they were born and lived in, and mention details such as that they died “peacefully, surrounded by family and friends” or “at St. Luke’s hospice care community.”
• How they died: This is also optional and entirely based on your preferences. People will be curious, but that doesn’t mean it’s their right to know.  

A simple introduction that incorporates these facts can be personal and make a powerful statement about someone’s life. For example:

• Gene Romano III, age 87, of Tybee Island, Georgia, passed away on March 3, 2022, from complications during surgery. Born on February 10, 1935, Gene was blessed to have many roles as a husband, father, grandfather, brother, son and friend.
• Feisty right up to the end, Chris Young gave cancer a fight like it’s never seen. She was a young 46, but an old soul who made every day count.
• Daughter, sister, fur mama and friend, Elaine Ceballos, left this world loved on June 5, 2022.

Family and loved ones

Including the people your loved one loved is another way to honor their life and to acknowledge those who are grieving.  

Start with those who preceded them in death. If you’re wondering how far back to go, first think about immediate family—like a child, mom, stepmom, dad, stepdad, grandparent, sibling, spouse or fiance. Your loved one might also have lost a companion or life partner decades ago, a best friend that they talked to every day or even a significant pet that would be respectful to mention.  

Then list surviving family members—including chosen family.Choose a family member or a few to work with on the list. Do your best to come to an agreement that works for everyone. Most of the time, it’s better to over-include than under-include.  

• Current spouse, children and stepchildren (along with children’s spouses or partners), parents, stepparents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc.
• First husband or wife, if there are children involved or if there was still a friendship or some other unique circumstance.
• Partners in life, whether officially married or not.
• Anyone not in the “traditional” list but who was very important to the deceased. Chosen family might include best friends, favorite uncles or aunts, a beloved mentor, a supportive group of buddies, beloved pets, etc.
• Current pets: You’ll know when this is appropriate—we all can picture the people whose pets are their world, so don’t be shy about including them.

Here are some examples of how to list family members in an obituary:

• Allie is preceded in death by her brother-in-law, Mack Ross. She is survived by her daughter, Liza Stapinski; Liza’s dad, Joe Stapinski; sisters, Laura Lynn Schroeder Ross and Jacquelyn Schroeder McKinley (Ryan); father, Dr. Aaron Schroeder; mother, Simone Mercier; stepmom, Logan Schroeder; and many beloved family and friends.
• Sophie is preceded in death by her mom, Adelaide Davis, and her precious schnauzer, Turbo. She is survived by a long list of people who loved her, including, but not limited to: dad, Hugh Cohen of Lawrence; siblings, Will Cohen (Luna) of Shreveport, Collin Cohen (Bridget) of Savannah, Charlie Cohen (Vivian) of Jackson, Aubrey Cohen of Houston; stepdad, Guy Smith of Fayetteville; bestie, Jenn MacLewen of Atlantic City; and her boisterous book club sisters of Springfield.
• Jack is preceded in death by his grandma, Harriet Irwin. He is survived by his father, Rowan Bleu; mother, Ann Bleu; brothers, Ken Bleu (Tracy) and Danny Bleu (Jo); bonus child, Tyrell Waters; and wild child collie, Mischief.

Life and accomplishments

It’s hard to know where to start, so start with what you know. Think of how they would have wanted to be remembered and let that spark some ideas.   

Make a list of the most important things.Share the gems, the rare and wonderful things they did, what made people love them and how they loved others. Here are some questions to get you started:

• Where did their life begin…and where did it take them?
• What were their family and important relationships like, and how did they grow or change over time?
• What was school like? Were they a high school rebel, did they have multiple degrees or were they self-taught?  
• What did they do to make a living? What impact did it have on them—or how did they impact their workplace or community?   
• What were they known for among their friends and family? Interesting hobbies? Volunteering? Memorable stories, sayings or habits?
• What did they believe in? What mattered the most to them?

Here are some examples of what to write about someone’s life in an obituary:

• Mrs. DuBose was a dedicated sports fan—she cheered on countless games featuring her children and grandchildren, as well as every Kansas City sports team. She loved to bake and would not have dreamed of showing up to a family event or tailgate without her legendary caramel cake. She was a member of First Baptist Church, where she enjoyed singing hymns with the senior choir and attending Sunday school.
• Arthur grew up in Indianapolis, attended Westport High School, then joined the Marines once he graduated. After serving several tours of duty, he pursued his passion of making the most beautiful bamboo furniture. Some of his designs were even featured on celebrity social media accounts. Arthur played soccer his whole life, loved the outdoors and hated dressing up. More than anything, he adored his family. And they adored him.
• Nobody was more into fashion than Annabelle. A style maven through and through, our girl never looked bad and always made everyone else feel good. Her beauty was more than skin deep, though. After graduating from the University of Mississippi with a degree in Mass Communications, Annabelle started a nonprofit that supported young business entrepreneurs. When she wasn’t changing the world, Annabelle spent time painting in watercolor and loving on her cute kitten, Howard.

Share details of the service and special requests

It’s important to share details as soon as you can so friends and family can make plans to attend or memorialize the deceased.  

Include information about the visitation, funeral services, burial and/or the celebration of life—which might happen a few months down the road depending on schedules. If your plans aren’t yet finalized, reassure people that you’ll share info as soon as possible. Once you have it, be sure to include:

• Type of event: Visitation, wake, funeral, private burial, celebration of life, shiva, etc.
• Location: Include the name of the place, plus any directions or maps.
• Date and time: If mourners are coming from other parts of the country, verify the time zone so no one’s confused.

You can also share special requests or ways the family would like loved ones to remember the deceased:  

• “Flowers not required but always appreciated,” or “No flowers, please” or “In lieu of flowers, please…”  
• Donations to specific foundations or philanthropies.
• Kind gestures.
• What to bring or share, including photos, memories and food.

Visitation will be Thursday, December 1, from 5–9 p.m. and Friday, December 2, from 4–6 p.m. at the Christ Church Community Center. Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 3, at 11 a.m. at Christ Church in the main chapel. Burial immediately following. Lunch will be provided in the church Fellowship Hall for those who’d like to gather and share favorite stories. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Rae’s favorite environmental organization: [insert donation website and/or mailing address here].

How to Write an Obituary with Personality  

There are many ways to personalize an obituary, but there are a few easy ways to capture who your loved one really was and how they lived.

Deliver the details

By including personal details, you make your loved one’s story come alive. Think about:  

• What they were known for. Maybe your loved one performed acts of kindness you want to share. Or believed in angels. Or were steadfastly optimistic about their favorite team’s chances.
• Being precise. Why write someone “loved to cook” when you can write about that one favorite dish they made only for the most special occasions? Look for information you can change from vague to specific.
• Getting descriptive. For example, turn “enjoyed” into “displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of” or “giggled excitedly over.”  

Write in a real voice

Voice captures someone’s point of view, the words they choose and the emotions and rhythms in their speech. For an obituary, you can use your unique voice—or borrow your loved one’s style. Here are some tips:

• Make it conversational. Pretend you’re telling your loved one’s story to a friend. Use real language and turns of phrase.  
• Write it out in the present tense. After it sounds like you want it to, switch to past tense.
• Include dialogue. This could mean adding a quote your loved one once said, borrowing their own language quirks or including part of a conversation you had.

Here are some examples of obituary writing that use details and voice to capture unique personalities:   

• His perfect day was a horse ride down the Sapphire Trail, followed by a neat whiskey—plenty of ice—on the porch, with Sinatra playing in the background.
• They were a peacemaker, through and through. Except if you ordered pineapple on pizza. Then, Lord have mercy on your soul.
• Kit’s dream was to be a professional figure skater when she grew up. Even though she didn’t get to do that here, we think our little girl is twirling her toes off in Heaven.

Go completely off script

This is permission—just in case you need it—to trust yourself and your own language style when writing an obituary. Here are a few examples of nontraditional obituaries:  

• No one knew more about Jane Austen than Edith did. Except for maybe Jane Austen. She visited the famous novelist’s homeplace twice and read all of her books way more than twice! In Edith’s memory, we’d love to have a proper British tea. Please bring a Jane Austen quote to share. For now, we’ll leave you with this one: “It is such happiness when good people get together.”
• Colette Park was a delightful girl, dancer, dreamer, artist, discoverer of “animal clouds,” ice cream aficionado and best friend to her fur sibling, Rufus. Colette will be remembered for all the things she was…and mourned for the things she could’ve been. We won’t focus on the end of her life, but instead on the beautiful eight years we were blessed to have her. To honor our sweet girl’s memory, you can donate to [insert philanthropy] in her name.
• Brian’s memory was so amazing that even elephants were jealous. He remembered the most random stories and names we couldn’t recall and never forgot a face. This is one of many reasons, Brian, that we’ll always remember you.

Paying formal tribute to someone’s life is a big responsibility. But what really matters is that you give it your best, with empathy and respect for your family and the person you’ve lost. Your loved one was special and your writing will be, too, when you do it with love.

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How to Write a Funeral Biography

Sheila smith, 29 sep 2017.

A funeral biography usually is for one of two things: an obituary or a eulogy. The type of information in each differs somewhat. A eulogy is more personal than an obituary and often longer. How easily you compose the biography is dependent upon factors such as how well you and others knew the person; how much interaction you had with the deceased; and how many facts you know off the top of your head about items such as the person's birth date, family members and hometown.

Explore this article

• Provide Obituary Basics
• Gather Anecdotes
• Accentuate the Positive
• The Unknown

1 Provide Obituary Basics

For an obituary, include the deceased's full name with applicable honorifics; birth date; date of and age at the time of death; the names of the person's spouse, offspring, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and both current and past hometowns. If the deceased was in the military, include the rank and unit with which she served as well as any awards. You may add information about employment, education and any important accomplishments; for example, "Ms. Jones graduated from Harvard University and was a longtime employee of R, Inc. She was an avid runner and participated twice in the New York City Marathon." If the family welcomes visitors at the funeral or memorial service, state the location, date and time. Also note if donations in the person's name are being encouraged; for example, "In lieu of flowers, please send a donation in Ms. Jones' name to the ASPCA."

2 Gather Anecdotes

Ask those close to the deceased about their memories -- whether sweet or humorous. Longer anecdotes work best in a eulogy, where you have as much time as you want -- within service time constraints -- to talk about the past. If you know or learn anything about the person's hopes and dreams and whether they were fulfilled, include that information. For example, if the deceased wanted to be a nurse, you might say, "Robert always wanted to be a nurse. His compassion for others and positive outlook on life was a perfect fit for his chosen career."

3 Accentuate the Positive

A funeral is not the time to air grievances. If you or someone you talked to has a less-than-flattering story to tell, omit it. If no one has anything kind to say, stick to more basic information as you would for an obituary. Expand on facts as much as possible. For example, focus on how long she worked for a company or the fact that she raised four kids to adulthood as a single mother. If the person was in the military, you could mention where she served as well as any honors, if any, she received.

4 The Unknown

Writing a funeral biography about someone you don't really know, or writing one on behalf of someone else about a total stranger, is not as hard as it may seem. It's fairly easy to compose an obituary since it involves primarily gathering and organizing facts. A eulogy, however, involves creatively expanding and commenting on the facts. For example, if you know only that the deceased was a teacher for 40 years, it's easy to conclude that educating people was important to him. If he had four dogs, two cats and a parakeet, he was no doubt an animal lover. Such easily drawn conclusions can open the door to the creation of a meaningful eulogy about even those you never knew.

• 1 Legacy.com: Guide to Writing an Obituary

About the Author

Sheila Smith is a copy editor and writer with more than nine years of experience editing and writing for international media syndicate Tribune Media. Additional clients have included Times Union and Edgenuity. She has been involved with several nonprofit organizations, provided etiquette instruction for cultural and religious events and has experience in event planning.

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How to write a biography of a deceased person

By rebecca cioffi / in lifestyle.

Everyone dies. It's a simple fact of life. And when they do, many times an obituary is needed, which is just another word for biography. If you are writing one for a local newspaper or something that requires brevity, use three paragraphs. For anything else, like a eulogy or even a school paper on a dead relative, you can make it as long as you like. Just remember you are writing about someone's life and give your biography the respect that this person deserves.

• It's a simple fact of life.
• And when they do, many times an obituary is needed, which is just another word for biography.

Begin with the background. Described who the person was as evidenced by whom he left behind, including spouses and children. You can also include details like where he worked and what he did. Include that he was a wonderful teacher or everyone loved his Santa at Christmas; it doesn't have to be a full life story, just some interesting titbits and highlights. It doesn't have to be the Nobel Prize to be included, unless he did win the Nobel Prize.

Include personality traits and unusual or funny characteristics. If he was extremely philanthropic or donated to one cause, mention that. Give a sense of the man here -- a sense of his personality, what he found funny or cared deeply about and why people liked him.

• Include personality traits and unusual or funny characteristics.
• Give a sense of the man here -- a sense of his personality, what he found funny or cared deeply about and why people liked him.

End with the idea that his passing was sad but so many rich things came from his life. You can then end with some accomplishments of the deceased's family. Remember that research is important here. Make some phone calls to his family and friends and interview them. Just a few comments from relatives can really add to the biography.

Fact check your article thoroughly as you don't want to get any facts wrong including dates of birth and death, a list of survivors and funeral dates and times. If you are including sensitive information such as cause of death, check with the family first before publishing.

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How to Write a Memorable Obituary

Pay tribute to the little and big things that made your loved one special.

Carl Reiner, the legendary comedy writer, producer, director and performer, told CBS Sunday Morning in 2015 that the first thing he does in the morning before he has coffee is read the obituaries. “If I'm not in there, I know that I'm alive,” he said.

His death in June at age 98 made news around the world and garnered obituaries in the New York Times , in People magazine and on CNN. Reiner was like many of us who turn right to the obits to see who has died, whether the individual is a politician, a celebrity or a neighbor from down the street.

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It's typically up to family or other loved ones to write an obituary. That's a tough task on its own. And it's often done while the bereaved are in mourning, grappling with myriad funeral details and notifying others of the loss.

"People have to do something entirely new that they've never done before at  their moment of grief ,” says Jane Lerner, a former journalist who wrote scores of obituaries and a column for a newspaper in New York state and then turned her experience into a business called Lives Lived: A Professional Obituary Writing Service .

Getting the structure down

The best obits are memorable portraits that reveal notable details about a person's life and how it affected others. But it's also important to include the basics of a person's life and to share any funeral service information.

Numerous free online resources and templates offer help with getting an outline set, including many offered by funeral homes. A checklist offered by Shirley Brothers Funeral Homes and Crematory in Indianapolis is typical. It includes:

• Any familial survivors
• When the person retired, if relevant
• Any military affiliations
• Any volunteer affiliations
• Date, time and location of the funeral
• Any viewing details
• Requests for donations in lieu of flowers

Some obituaries don't mention the cause of death. Lerner recommends including it if possible because readers will want to know, and then the rest of the piece can focus on the person's life. “An obituary doesn't need to be about how someone died but about how someone lived,” she says.

Celebrate what made your loved one unique

Did your mother play shortstop in high school or take a second job to put you through college? Take the time to highlight such details, and include what else made the deceased special, such as hobbies, nickname or proudest accomplishments.

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Priscilla Martel, a cookbook author and food writer who wrote the obituaries for her favorite uncle and her mother and father in the space of two years, compiled an engaging, well-rounded profile of each. She created a vibrant portrait of a singer who once opened for Tony Bennett, a collector of dollhouse miniatures who had a bouquet of friends, and a music shop owner who owned more than 100 cars in his lifetime and had a thriving second career as a classic car appraiser.

"You are really memorializing these people for eternity. It's an opportunity to craft something that is really about who they are, more than just a collection of milestones, military service, education, professional career and family,” Martel says.

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Most of us don't have all the facts or stories about our loved ones. To glean compelling details, reach out to relatives and family friends, Martel says. A bonus is connecting with those close to the deceased when many of us need an emotional boost.

If writing the obituary or contacting others for information is too much to take on, reach out for help. A funeral director should be able to offer guidance, and professional obituary writers can assist as well.

It's OK to add some levity

Death is no joke, of course, but it's fine to  sprinkle some humor into an obituary  . A Connecticut woman took this to extremes last year when she memorialized her prankster father, Joe Heller, 82, in a  hilarious and loving tribute  that went viral on social media and which the New York Times dubbed “The Best Obituary Ever."

It describes Heller as a hoarder who named his first dog Fart and left his family with “a house full of crap, 300 pounds of birdseed and dead houseplants that they have no idea what to do with.”

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, when  in-person funerals are limited  to a handful of mourners, obituaries are including more personal anecdotes than before, according to Stephen Segal, director of content for Legacy.com, an online obituary company that provides support and obituary-related services to newspapers and funeral homes in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

How to place an obit in print or online

Newspapers have long been the go-to outlet for obituaries. Printing obituaries was once a free community service, but now most charge a fee that can climb from less than $100 to more than $1,000 depending on the length, whether you include a photo and how long it runs.

Lerner suggests sending the obituary to the deceased's alumni publication, religious community and interest group newsletters, and also posting it on social media, which are all free of charge. “Some obits are so good they have gone viral,” she says.

For newspapers, funeral homes will handle the logistics. Tracy McClarnon, a coordinator at Shirley Brothers Mortuaries & Crematory in Indianapolis, advises paying for a short obituary with service details and then linking to the funeral home website for a longer obituary, which is often part of the funeral package.

To do it yourself, most newspapers have user-friendly portals with deadlines, fees and instructions on how to upload the text. The paper will share a proof of the obit so you can check for accuracy and make any changes before it runs.

Many newspapers automatically publish paid death notices on Legacy.com, an online obituary service with its own suite of paid options.

"In the absence of a physical funeral, the obituary is taking an even more prominent role as the place where those stories get told, where those memories get shared, where a loved one's life story is honored and preserved,” Segal says.

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7 Short Memorial Tribute Samples for Funerals

Updated 04/19/2024

Published 04/29/2020

Belinda McLeod, BA in Secondary Education

Contributing writer

Cake values integrity and transparency. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure .

You’ve been asked to speak at a funeral. You have a basic idea of how to write a tribute speech , but you need some inspiration. Perhaps you are struggling to put into words how exceptional your mom was.

Maybe every time you try to write about the characteristics of your sister, the words sound generic and hollow. It could be that you haven’t written anything but emails since high school or college, and you are uncomfortable putting your thoughts into words.

Let us help. Here are some short tribute samples. We’ll try to give you examples of how to begin, portions from the middle of a speech, and how to conclude your tribute. We hope that reading these short excerpts will inspire you to be able to write a speech for someone close to you.

Post-planning tip:   If you are the executor for a deceased loved one, handling a loved one's unfinished business can be overwhelming without a way to organize your process. We have a post-loss checklist  that will help you ensure that your loved one's family, estate, and other affairs are taken care of.

Jump ahead to these sections:

For a parent, for a sibling, for a partner or spouse, for a friend, for another close family member, for a mentor , for a colleague, how to choose the right words.

"Good afternoon. I am Peter, Mary’s oldest son. My sister Patricia and I would like to welcome you to the memorial service of our mom. I’m going to be honest. I’m a high school teacher, so I am used to public speaking. But presenting this tribute will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Please give me grace as I struggle through my thoughts and ideas and try to articulate what an amazing woman my mom was.

Instead of giving you a list of adjectives to describe my mom, I would like to tell you a few of our favorite stories about her and let you draw your own conclusions. 

First, you probably didn’t know this, but my mom has been quietly working with the homeless population for years. She didn’t talk about it. In fact, she never said anything to my sister or me about her work. Instead, she would quietly prepare bags of snacks and toiletries every Sunday evening, and then several times throughout that week, she would distribute the packages to the homeless communities downtown. I see the looks of surprise on some of your faces, and you probably are asking yourself how you didn’t know this about my mom. That’s just the type of person she was—selfless and humble."

Tip: You can set up a memorial fundraiser to help with funeral expenses or donate to your loved one's favorite charity using our online memorials .

"Shawna had such an exuberant spirit. I see many of you nodding your heads because you know this may be the understatement of the century. 

Even though I was two years ahead of Shawna in school, people in my class would ask if I was Shawna’s brother. It used to infuriate me, but I understand why it happened. Shawna made a point to learn everyone’s name. Not only that, but she would also learn everyone’s siblings’ names, how long they had lived in the area, and whether they liked chocolate or strawberry ice cream. 

Shawna was a natural-born public relations director. She loved people, and people loved her. It’s no surprise there’s not an empty seat in the church today. This packed house means a lot to my parents and me. We can’t tell you how much we have appreciated all the messages we have received in the last week. Your support has been overwhelming."

"Finally, besides being grateful for my amazing children and close friends, I am thankful for the treasure trove of memories that I have of my life with Michael. Even though I feel as if my right arm has been removed, I know that someday I may again laugh when I remember some of his god-awful jokes.

Eventually, I will be able to use his Graceland coffee cup without breaking down into tears. There will come a point when I will be able to look back at our lifetime of memories together and smile. Until then, I would love for you to share your memories of Michael with me. It comforts me to know that there are others out there thinking of and mourning for this great man."

Tip:  For a special reminder of your partner and your memories together, consider a custom urn  or  cremation diamond .

"The first thing I noticed about Carol was her big mane of red, curly hair. It didn’t take long to discover that her hair matched her personality. And it’s that personality that I would like to celebrate with you today.

Let’s start by remembering her laugh. I always knew where Carol was when I entered a restaurant for a lunch date with her and our high school friends. I only had to pause at the entrance of the dining room and listen for her loud, contagious laugh. I never had to wait long to hear it because Carol was always the life of the party."

"My mom has shared a lot of stories about Uncle Ralph through the years. My favorite stories were about his adventures when he was a young adult—before he married Aunt Rita. 

Apparently, Ralph had an adventurous spirit back in the late 1960s. He spent his summers hitchhiking across the country, with his old Boy Scout pack slung across his back. Ralph was able to get rides from other hippies, truck drivers, ranchers, and once a cult leader.

He slept under the stars in the Sierra Nevada mountains and woke up once to see a bear rummaging through his pack. I wasn’t around back then, but I’ve seen photos of Ralph from this time. He was almost unrecognizable. The Uncle Ralph that I knew was a clean-cut Presbyterian minister. "

"Today I would like to pay tribute to a great woman and mentor, Julia Price. Julia was born to a Missouri farm couple in 1958. Her parents, Sam and Glenda Smith, had struggled to conceive, and when Julia finally arrived to complete their family, they were delighted. They treated their daughter as a princess, and she loved them with her whole heart.

Although she didn’t want to leave home, her parents convinced her to enroll in the University of Missouri after she graduated from high school as valedictorian. There, she studied journalism and became the first female editor of the college newspaper. She loved her new-found career, and when she graduated, she received an offer from major newspapers in St. Louis and Chicago. 

She began her career covering city hall in Chicago. You know she met a lot of interesting characters from this experience—many of whom are currently serving time in prison. Regardless, she remained unintimidated by these high-profile public servants and worked hard to make sure the local population knew what was going on behind closed doors."

"It is my honor to speak today about Bill. Although I wish I were talking at his retirement party instead of his funeral , we all know that life isn’t fair sometimes. It’s not fair that Bill was taken from his wife Carol after only 27 years together. It’s not fair that Bill wasn’t able to live long enough to see his first granddaughter born next spring. And it’s not fair that our office will be without Bill’s booming voice and contagious laugh. Things won’t ever be the same.

No one worked harder than Bill. He knew every aspect of the business, which is not a surprise since he started in the warehouse when he was 23 years old. He worked his way up to warehouse supervisor, and then distribution manager, and finally, one of the vice presidents of the company." 

We hope these short eulogy samples will help you get over your writer’s block. But don’t beat yourself up if you really struggle to write a fitting tribute to your loved one or colleague. You are undertaking a difficult and important task. 

• Give yourself plenty of time to write your speech. Begin jotting down ideas as soon as you are asked. You may want to speak to others who knew the deceased to learn stories and gather ideas. 
• Write out a draft of your tribute, using as many specific examples and stories as possible. Avoid making general statements about the person’s personality without having a particular memory to share. 
• Also, remember that a funeral is not the appropriate place to share someone’s secrets. It’s not the time to make a bombshell announcement or reveal a life-long secret.  
• Finally, once you have your draft, share it with several other people. Ask for suggestions and be open-minded with their edits. 

Writing a tribute is a lot of work, but it is a great honor to be asked to speak at a loved one’s memorial service.

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Funeral biography samples

Funeral biography samples: tips, examples, and how funeralpamphlet.com can help.

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult moments in life. At the same time, it is a moment that requires us to honor and celebrate the life of the person who has passed away. Creating a funeral biography is one way to do that. In this article, we will discuss funeral biography samples, provide tips for creating one, offer examples, and explain how FuneralPamphlet.com can help you create a beautiful and memorable funeral biography.

What is a Funeral Biography?

A funeral biography, also known as an obituary or eulogy, is a written or spoken account of a person’s life. It is typically read or shared at the funeral or memorial service. A funeral biography can include details such as the person’s birthplace, family, education, career, hobbies, accomplishments, and any other significant events or experiences that defined their life.

Why Create a Funeral Biography?

A funeral biography serves several purposes. First, it honors and celebrates the life of the person who has passed away. It provides an opportunity for loved ones to reflect on their memories and share stories about the person. Second, it informs others who may not have known the person well about their life and accomplishments. Lastly, it serves as a keepsake for family and friends to remember the person by.

Funeral Biography Samples: Tips for Creating a Memorable Tribute

Creating a funeral biography can be a daunting task, especially during a difficult time. Here are some tips to help you create a memorable tribute:

1. Gather Information

Start by gathering information about the person’s life. This can include details such as their birthplace, family, education, career, hobbies, accomplishments, and any other significant events or experiences that defined their life. Reach out to family members, friends, and coworkers to gather additional information.

2. Choose a Tone

Decide on the tone of the funeral biography. Will it be serious and reflective, or lighthearted and celebratory? Consider the personality of the person and what they would have wanted.

3. Keep it Concise

While it may be tempting to include every detail of the person’s life, it’s important to keep the funeral biography concise. Aim for around 500 to 1000 words.

4. Include Photos

Include photos of the person throughout their life. This can help bring their story to life and provide a visual representation of their life.

5. Proofread and Edit

Once you’ve written the funeral biography, proofread and edit it to ensure it is free of errors and flows well.

Funeral Biography Samples: Examples

Here are some funeral biography samples to provide inspiration:

Mary Jane Smith, 68, of Springfield, passed away on Monday, March 15, 2021. Born in Boston on June 2, 1952, she was the daughter of the late Michael and Catherine (Ryan) O’Connell. Mary Jane attended Boston College, where she earned a degree in nursing. She worked as a nurse for over 40 years, spending most of her career at Springfield General Hospital. Mary Jane was a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She loved gardening, cooking, and spending time with her family. She is survived by her husband of 45 years, John Smith, her two children, Michael and Sarah, and three grandchildren, Jack, Katie, and Emily.

John Doe, 82, of New York City, passed away on Sunday, December 27, 2020. Born in Brooklyn on October 5, 1938, he was the son of the late William and Margaret Doe. John attended Brooklyn College, where he earned a degree in accounting. He worked for over 50 years as a CPA, and was known for his expertise and dedication to his clients. John was also a dedicated community volunteer, serving on the board of several local organizations. He loved traveling, reading, and spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Jane Doe, his two children, David and Karen, and five grandchildren, Jennifer, Matthew, Rachel, Sarah, and Emily.

Why Use FuneralPamphlet.com?

Creating a funeral biography can be a difficult and emotional task. FuneralPamphlet.com can help make the process easier by providing customizable funeral biography templates. Our templates are designed to be easy to use, with pre-written sections that you can customize with your own information. Our templates also include options for adding photos and other personal touches. Using FuneralPamphlet.com can help ensure that your loved one’s life is celebrated and honored in a beautiful and memorable way.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Dario Villirilli

Editor-in-Chief of the Reedsy blog, Dario is a graduate of Mälardalen University. As a freelance writer, he has written for many esteemed outlets aimed at writers. A traveler at heart, he can be found roaming the world and working from his laptop.

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

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While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

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Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character development to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

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When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in the middle of the action  in medias res, Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to publish your own  biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and edit your own manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing applications , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

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How to Write the Names of Deceased Persons

NOTE: See also –  How to Write Names on Tombstones, Grave markers .

On this page: — — — Deceased Person’s Name on a List — — — Use of “the Late” — — — Mixing Names of Deceased with the Living — — — Deceased’s Name on a Certificate — — — Use of Mr./Ms. with a Deceased’s Name — — — Deceased with Many Titles — — — Deceased’s Name on a Resumé — — — Deceased Host/Hostess

How to Write the Name of a Deceased Person on a List? Our organization is celebrating our 100th birthday. Unfortunately, Judge Smith, one of our committee members passed away. We would like to list him in the program. —- —- —- —- – E.H.L.

Dear E.H.L.: Consider listing names of deceased persons with the years of their life after their name: —- —- John Smith (1935-2011) —- —- —- or —- —- John Smith (1935-2011), Founder

If you are aiming for a timeless form, the span of years accomplishes that.

If span of years isn’t what you want, an asterisk * ( cross or Star of David ) is put next to the name and ‘* Deceased’ is put at the bottom of the page as a footnote.

—- — John Smith* —- ———- —- —- —- * Deceased

”Deceased’ is the correct word, though some might think it is too legal sounding.

Regarding use of ‘judge’ with his name, see ‘ How to Write a Deceased Person’s Name on a Certificate’ further down on this page.

– Robert Hickey

Robert Hickey author of “Honor & Respect”

When to Use ‘The Late’?

In writing the history of our organization should we present the deceased founder’s name as:  The late John Smith —- —- —- –- Darla Snyder

Ms. Snyder:

Use ‘the late’ before a name of someone who is deceased – often recently – when one wants to be respectful. For example, on a wedding program:

—- John Smith, the bride’s uncle, will give away the bride in place of her father the late Thomas Smith.

—- The groom is the son of Mrs. James K. Gifford and the late Stephen R. Gifford

Some style guides say a person can only be ‘the late’ if they have been dead less than a decade. So, in a timeless document ‘the late’ is not the right option. List the name of your founder as – (Full Name) – and note the span of years and other information after his name. —- John Smith, founder —- —- or —- John Smith (1910-2002), founder

– Robert Hickey How to Write the Names of Deceased Persons

How to Include a Deceased Person’s Name with the Names of the Living?

A ‘Special Tribute Book ‘, is being put together to commemorate our Rabbi’s 25th Anniversary. I have to decide how my contribution will be listed. Ideally, I want to include my deceased husband’s name, my name, and the names of our children. I am thinking of: —- Mrs. Robert G. Green, (Pearl), and adult children Michael, Russell, Edward, and Rebecca. — —- —- – Pearl

Dear Pearl:

I’m not crazy about ‘her adult children.’ That they are adults doesn’t seem pertinent.

I’ve seen Mrs. Robert G. Green (Pearl) used here and there, but I think it’s awkward.

How about this: —- Pearl B. Green with her children Michael, Russell, Edward, and Rebecca in memory of Robert G. Green

In identifying them as ‘her children’ everyone will know, or be able to figure out, you are also Mrs. Robert G. Green .  What do you think? —- —- —- – Robert Hickey

Dear Robert,

I’m going to go with your suggestion: —- Pearl B. Green with her children Michael, Russell, Edward, and Rebecca in memory of Robert G. Green

I read the wording to our son, Michael, and asked him if it sounded right to him? He said, ‘Mom, I think it is great!’   That’s all I needed to hear. He’s been a blessing to me, from the moment his Dad brought him into my life, fifty-seven years ago! ————– – Pearl How to Write the Names of Deceased Persons

How to Write a Deceased Person’s Name on a Certificate?

How do I write the name of our local general practitioner who has died – on a Certificate of Appreciation to be presented to his family? Do I write ‘The Late John Smith, M.D.’ ?  Thanks. ———– – Sue in Essex County

You don’t need note that he is dead. Just put his name on the certificate.

Names of the deceased are presented as just the name – no honorific before – no academic post nominals after. When they were alive they were Mr., Mrs., doctor, judge, ambassador, professor, senator, general , or captain .  Ranks and honorifics are only used with the names of the living.  The idea is – while alive the person had many versions of their name – but now those are in the past.  (1) As a pretense   at historic homes they often refer to the famous former occupant as if they are still alive. At Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia, the guides refer to Thomas Jefferson as Mr. Jefferson   throughout the tour as if he is alive. It’s charming, It’s theatrical. But not the formal form.  (2) George Washington is now just George Washington . He is no longer general, he’s no longer a government official. A historian might write ‘General Washington issued an order …’  in text so the reader knows by what authority the action was taken. But reference to a person in a book is not a form of address. It is a reference in the third person so the reader can know who-is-who and what-is-what.

Back to your certificate. Use wording like this:

—- —- In Appreciation of ——– John Smith
 ——– For Exemplary Service to the Citizens of Essex County


—- The certificate can be signed & dated at the bottom: —- —- Robert Thompson, Mayor —- —- The Twenty Third Day of June, Two Thousand Twenty

Since the service was specific to the practice of medicine then including ‘M.D.’ after the name can be argued.  I would vote you include no academic post nominal. That he was a physician you can work into the statement about ‘the why’ behind the certificate.

If the certificate is dated as I suggested above … historians will figure out that this certificate was presented posthumously.

Are Mr./Mrs. Used With the Name of the Deceased Person?

My mother taught me that when a man is deceased, one should not refer to him as ‘Mr.’ Do you know of such a rule? —————- – Sue Holton

Dear Ms. Holton:

When a person is deceased, their name is presented without honorifics, ranks, courtesy titles or post-nominal abbreviations for degrees, licenses, honors or memberships.

——– #1) ‘Mr./Miss/Mrs./Ms.’ are honorifics and are used by others in direct address to a person. The honorifics are attached to the name as a courtesy to the person … and to define them in some way … as a man, woman …. or define marital status. They are used in conversation, on an envelope, on letter’s address block or salutation, or on a place card. They are not used with the names of the deceased.

——– #2) Courtesy titles …. the honorable, the reverend, his/her excellency … are not used with the names of the deceased either.

——– #3) And the same with ranks …. ambassador, military-style ranks, judge, doctor, etc. These are part of the name when the person is living, but they are not a part of their name when they are deceased.

How to Write the Name of a Deceased Person Who Had Many Titles?

How do you write the name of a deceased person who had many titles? What if the person was a mayor and had a doctorate? —- —- —- – J.K.H.

Dear J.K.H.: How to Write the Names of Deceased Persons

Deceased people are listed simply by their name – (Full Name) – typically the form of their name they had when they died – without an honorific, courtesy title, rank or post-nominal abbreviation for degrees, licenses, honors or membership.

None of these are part of a deceased person’s name:

—- Honorifics such as: Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., mayor, commissioner

—- Courtesy titles such as: excellency, honorable, reverend

—- Ranks such as: ambassador, doctor, judge, or military ranks

—- Post-nominal abbreviations such as: M.D. or Ph.D.; R.N. or C.P.A.

If they held a variety of jobs, those details would be enumerated in a biography.

How to Refer to a Deceased Employer on a Resume?

How do I refer to my deceased employer, a U.S. Senator, on my resume? —- —- —- – Beth Acorn

Dear Ms. Acorn,

It is not necessary to mention that your former employer is deceased. It only matters that your employer was alive when you worked for him/her and that you are alive today.

How Do I List a Deceased Host on an Invitation?

A baby shower was to be hosted by two individuals. Regretfully, one of the hosts passed away. The family wants the deceased to still be listed as a host on the invitation. How would that be worded? —– Posthumously Caroline Willis —- – — or —- – The Late Caroline Willis —- —- —- –- Helen Carley

Dear Ms. Carley:

It is an obligation of a guest to find their host and thank them for the invitation. Invitations are issued by the living who will, with any luck, attend the event an serve as host.

Issue the invitation with only then name of the remaining host.

Have this remaining host start the event with a welcome toast and loving remembrance … such as:

‘I cannot welcome you today without saying as we gather to celebrate of the joyous start of a new life – we also celebrate another life well lived – that of Caroline Willis. Caroline and I were to jointly host this event and nothing would have brought her more joy than to see this wonderful gathering of friends and family ….’ etc.

See these Related Posts: — —- — Use of “The Late” with Names — —- — Writing the Names of Deceased Persons — —- — Names on Tombstones, Grave Markers, Monuments

When Should You Use the Forms on this Page?

You can use these forms of address for any mode of communication: addressing a letter, invitation, card or Email. (If there are differences between the official and social forms of address, I will have mentioned the different forms.)  The form noted in the salutation is the same form you say when you say their name in conversation or when you greet them. ___ What I don’t cover on this site are  many things I do cover in my book: all the rules of forms of address, about names, international titles, precedence, complimentary closes, details on invitations, place cards, all sorts of introductions , etc. I hope you’ll get a copy of the book if you’d like the further detail.

Not Finding Your Answer?

—- #1)    At right  on desktops , at the bottom of every page on tablets and phones , is a list of all the offices, officials & topics covered on the site.

—- #2)   If you don’t see the official you seek included or your question answered send me an e-mail . I am pretty fast at sending a reply: usually the next day or so  (unless I am traveling.)   Note: I don’t have mailing or Email addresses for any of the officials and I don’t keep track of offices that exist only in history books.

—- #3)   If I think your question is of interest to others, Sometimes I post the question  – but always change all the specifics.

— Robert Hickey 

Recommended Resources:    The Protocol School of Washington (PSOW)  and  Protocol and Diplomacy International – Protocol Officers Association (PDI-POA)     For more information see the Protocol Resources page.

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What Happened to Dominique Dunne? How Her 1982 Death Is Connected to the Menendez Brothers Trial

Actress Dominique Dunne was 22 years old when she was killed by her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney

In 1982, 22-year-old Dominique Dunne was killed on the driveway of her West Hollywood home. Over 40 years later, her family is still recovering from her death.

The young actress gained fame after starring in 1982's Poltergeist . However, her career was cut short after her ex-boyfriend, John Sweeney, killed her on Oct. 30, 1982. The two were previously in a relationship for a year and lived together, though Sweeney often allegedly physically abused her.

After a physical fight a month before she died, Dunne broke things off for good with Sweeney. However, on Oct. 30, he came back to her home, allegedly attempting to convince her to reconcile . A fight ensued and escalated until Sweeney was strangling Dunne, leading her to lose consciousness. When police arrived, Sweeney confessed to killing her and attempting to kill himself.

A year later, in September 1983, Sweeney was acquitted of second-degree murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and additionally a misdemeanor assault for the September altercation with Dunne. He was sentenced to six years in prison with an additional six months for the assault charge.

Sweeney was released on parole after serving two and a half years of his six-and-a-half-month sentence. Dunne's family, including her parents, Dominick and Ellen "Lenny" Dunne, and brothers, Griffin and Alex Dunne, continued to keep her memory alive after her death.

Lee Green /American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images

Now, Dunne’s case has been thrust back into the spotlight thanks to Nathan Lane ’s portrayal of her father, Dominick in Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story . Dominick was a crime journalist and covered the Menendez brothers' trial, which occurred over a decade after his daughter’s death.

So what happened to Dominique Dunne? Here's everything to know about the death of the young actress and where her killer is now.

Who was Dominique Dunne?

Dunne was an actress who got her start in 1979's Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker . She was born in Santa Monica, Calif., on Nov. 23, 1959, to Ellen, a ranching heiress, and Dominick, a writer, actor and producer in Hollywood. Dunne was also the younger sister of two brothers, Alex and Griffin.

After getting her start in 1979, Dunne went on to star in other popular 1980s shows like  Lou Grant ,  Family ,  Hart to Hart  and  Fame . Her rise to fame came in 1982's  Poltergeist , and she was set to star in the sequel as well before her death. At the time of her death, she was in the midst of filming the miniseries V , which was released the following year in her memory.

What happened to Dominique Dunne?

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images

Dunne met Sweeney, who was a sous chef at a restaurant, at a party in 1981. They had a whirlwind romance and within a few weeks rented a house together.

However, the relationship quickly turned sour when Sweeney became aggressive and physically abusive . In an Aug. 27, 1982, incident, Sweeney allegedly grabbed Dunne by her hair and yanked her so hard that handfuls of locks came out from the root. Scared, Dunne left to her mother's house, where Sweeney followed her and banged on the doors and windows to be let in.

Ellen told him to leave, or she'd call the police, and he did so. Within the next few days, Dunne returned to their shared home. A month later, another domestic dispute allegedly occurred when Sweeney strangled Dunne, and a neighbor heard the gagging sounds and attempted to intervene.

Under the pretense of going to the bathroom, Dunne escaped out the window and took off in her car, which Sweeney jumped the hood of. Following that incident, Dunne called off the relationship.

However, a month later, on Oct. 30, Sweeney showed up at Dunne's house while she was running lines with an actor, David Packer. Sweeney insisted on speaking to her, so Dunne met him outside the house while Packer stayed indoors. Their conversation eventually turned violent, leading Packer to call the police after Sweeney had strangled Dunne to the point of unconsciousness. Sweeney confessed he killed Dunne to the police when they arrived, telling them, "I killed my girlfriend, and I tried to kill myself.”

“I f----- up…I can’t believe I did something that will put me behind bars forever…Man, I blew it. I killed her," he told a cop on the way to the police station. "I didn’t think I choked her that hard. I just kept on choking her.”

By the time Dunne arrived at the hospital, her heart had stopped beating. Though machines revived her, she was declared brain dead, and five days later, her parents consented to remove her from life support.

Where is John Sweeney now?

AP Photo/Wally Fong

Sweeney was charged with first-degree murder, to which he pleaded not guilty. In court, Sweeney's lawyers argued that the chef had not planned to hurt Dunne and acted in the "heat of passion" after a frustrating conversation between the two in which she allegedly told him she had no plans of a future with him despite previously discussing one, Sweeney said.

The presiding judge granted Sweeney's attorney's request to change the charge to second-degree murder or manslaughter as the court lacked sufficient evidence to try him for first-degree murder since predetermination was not established.

The jury ultimately acquitted Sweeney on charges of second-degree murder, finding him guilty of voluntary manslaughter and assault for the September incident. Sweeney was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, of which he served two and a half.

Following his stint in jail, Sweeney was hired as a head chef at a highly-rated restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif. Dunne's family stood outside the restaurant in protest after hearing the news, handing out flyers that read, "The food you will eat tonight was cooked by the hands that killed Dominique Dunne," according to a 1987 interview with Griffin for The Courier.

Sweeney eventually quit, following the protests, and left Los Angeles. In the mid-1990s, a Florida man reached out to Dominick about an article he wrote regarding his daughter's death and asked if the John Sweeney engaged to his daughter was the very same who served time for Dunne's death, Dominick told The Telegraph in 2008.

Griffin quickly contacted the woman and informed her of Sweeney's past. Sweeney then changed his name.

Dominick opened up in 2007 to Slate about hiring a private investigator to track down Sweeney, who moved to the Pacific Northwest and changed his name to John Maura. However, eventually, Dominick said, he let it go.

“I don’t know where he is,” he told the outlet. “I don’t want to know where he is. … It’s much healthier."

Where is Dominique Dunne's family now, including her dad Dominick?

Jemal Countess/WireImage/Getty Images

Following his daughter's death, Dominick became committed to his career as a crime writer after being a successful Hollywood producer. During Sweeney's trial, Dominick wrote down everything he was feeling and his thoughts on the process per the advice of one of his coworkers, and published his work in an in-depth article for Vanity Fair .

“ He wrote this devastating piece about what a family goes through, who had no experience in the court judicial system; what we went through,” Griffin told PEOPLE of his father in June 2024. “It's a document that's like a handbook for what families should prepare for.”

In the following decades, Dominick covered cases like the O.J. Simpson trial  in 1995 and the Menendez brothers ' trial in 1993. The author and producer died on Aug. 26, 2009, at 83 years old.

Dunne's mother, Ellen, turned to advocacy work after her daughter's death, starting the Justice for Homicide Victims foundation. In 1989, she was recognized by former President George H. W. Bush for her contribution. She died in 1997 at 64 years old.

Griffin, Dunne's older brother, continues to work in Hollywood and is also an author. In June 2024, he published his memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir , which reflected on his family's history as much as his own.

“ I loved going back to my memories of her as a little girl that Alex and I adored,” he told PEOPLE of reflecting on his younger sister. “She seemed to know who she was from the age of four or five and had such confidence, far more than her brothers. She would boss us around and we would do everything we could to please her.”

How does Dominique Dunne's case relate to the Menendez brothers?

Iris/WireImage/Getty Images

Dunne's case returned to the national spotlight when Lane portrayed Dominick in Ryan Murphy 's  Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,  which was released on Netflix in September 2024.

Dominick's coverage of the trial — in which Lyle and Erik were being tried for the murder of their parents — was key to making it become the massive media sensation it was. Dominick was passionate about the stories he covered, often immersing himself in them — but he wasn't necessarily “a terribly unbiased one," as Griffin told PEOPLE.

“If he wrote about Phil Spector, he talked about Lana Clarkson and not as a third-rate actress, as the media continue to describe her,” he said, referring to other trials his dad covered. “Or during O.J., he sat with the Browns and Nicole's family … he always looked at it from the rights of the victim.”

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