People often use “death notice” and “obituary” to mean the same thing, but newspapers publish three different kinds of announcements. Knowing which is which helps you write one, decide where to place it and know where to look for one.
The three types
- Paid death notice. A short announcement that someone has died, with the funeral or memorial details. The family or funeral home writes it and pays the newspaper, usually by length.
- Paid obituary. A longer life story, often with a photo, also written by the family or funeral home and paid for like an ad. Most obituaries in newspapers today are this kind.
- News obituary. An article written by the paper’s staff about a person the editors consider newsworthy. It is free, the family doesn’t control what it says, and most papers publish only a few.
What to include in a death notice
A death notice gives the essentials: the person’s full name (and maiden name or nickname), age, city of residence, date of death, close survivors, and the time and place of the funeral, visitation or memorial service. Add where to send donations if the family wishes. To guard against identity theft, leave out the full date of birth, street address and mother’s maiden name.
What to include in an obituary
An obituary adds the story of the person’s life: where they were born and grew up, education, work, military service, marriage and family, faith, community involvement and interests. List survivors and close family members who died earlier. Ask another relative to proofread it: names, dates and spellings are easy to get wrong at a hard time.
Where and how to publish
Most families publish in the paper where the person last lived, and often also where they grew up or lived for many years. Each paper sets its own rules, deadlines and prices; many charge by the line or word plus a fee for a photo, and some accept notices only through a funeral home.
Most funeral homes will write and place notices for you and add the cost to their bill, which is easiest when notices run in several papers. They also post the obituary on their own website, usually free. Newspapers’ online obituaries are mostly hosted by Legacy.com, which keeps them online with a guest book.
Using notices for research
For family history, death notices are often more useful than they look: they list survivors and their towns, the funeral home and the cemetery. Older papers printed them under headings such as “Died,” “Deaths” or “Funeral Notices,” and in small towns deaths were often reported in local news columns instead. Our state guides list where to search each state’s papers.