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Obituary information

There is a difference between an obituary and a death notice. An obituary is usually the longer "story" version of the person's life; the death notice is usually smaller in size and in type style. This differs depending on what your local paper does.

In some of the larger cities where newspaper space is at a premium, there's a charge for the death notice so it is printed in the day's issue(s) of your choosing and with the wording you submit (for the most part). In those papers, an obituary, the bigger type news story kind, is only run at the paper's discretion, depending on space and also unfortunately, how prominent the deceased was. Because it's run at the paper's choice, it's free of charge.

In smaller cities, it can be one of two ways -

  • the obituary is run free of charge and the small - very small - death notice has a charge. The death notice is usually so small because all the information has already been run in the obituary so the death notice only contains the service information the next day.
  • the obituary has a charge and is run like a news story and the next-day small death notice, is run free. 

The average charge around the country is about $9.00 per line. For the Chicago Sun Times, it's        ; the New York Times is             ; the LA Times is           ; and the Houston     is           .

Photos can be included, usually for an additional cost, typically $25-$35. Some newspapers include symbols for an additional charge. Most newspapers do NOT charge for a flag symbol if the deceased was a veteran. Other available symbols typically include a shamrock, butterfly (rebirth), organ donor (gift of life), angel, cross, praying hands, Star of David, Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, police, fire, Moose, Mason, Eastern Star, Knights of Columbus, Odd Fellows, and Ukranian symbol. 

An obituary is written in the same type as the other stories in the newspaper. Because of the space used and its nature as a news story (and is therefore not paid for by the family), the decision to print one is soley at the discretion of the newspaper's staff.

Although some funeral directors charge to write the obituary and get it to the newspaper, most do not. Even if your funeral director will assist you with this, sometimes people choose to write as much as they can on their own. Some families choose to simply include basic biographical information and some choose to include a more detailed background and include clubs, organizations, activities, interests and accomplishments.  

Even if you want to keep it simple, consider these tips:

  • is there some way that people would recognize who this person is without knowing their name -   "Joe enjoyed morning coffee and neighborhood news at the corner table at Donut Delite every day." or "Sue regularly walked around town with her German Shepherd."
  •  what insight do you want a stranger who's reading it, to have about this person?    "Bill travelled the world, but always liked being home with his family the best."
  • do you just want to keep it basic? You can do that but still make it meaningful but using a few descriptive adjectives.  ex. Instead of saying, "Mary was a clerk at Macy's for 24 years", try "Mary was the friendliest clerk at Macy's for 24 years." 
    • Most cities/towns have a smaller weekly newspapers. They usually print obituaries free of charge and worded exactly as provided to them. 
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