It may be a little bit contrary to popular belief, but in point of fact, in a news obituary of 800 or a thousand words, there might be one or two sentences about the death and the other 98 percent of this remarkable narrative is every inch about the life.Д«RUCE WEBER: Well, I mean, there are - there are melancholy aspects to it, I would say that. This is an interesting job that you both had for so many years, and some people might think it might be sad or morbid to write about people dying every day. Well, Margalit Fox, Bruce Weber, welcome to FRESH AIR. Bruce Weber and Margalit Fox spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. Doctorow, one of his obituary subjects at The Times. He's left the paper and is working on a biography of E.L. Bruce Weber has worked as a Metro reporter and theater critic, among other roles, at The Times and is the author of several books. She still writes for The Times, writing advance obituaries of notable people for future use. She's trained as a cellist and a linguist. Margalit Fox joined the obituary desk in 2004 after working as an editor at The Times Book Review. Fox and Weber are among those featured in a new documentary about The Times obituary department called 'Obit.' It's directed by Vanessa Gould. Their subjects have ranged from celebrities and politicians to, as you'll soon hear, the inventor of Stove Top stuffing. Margalit Fox and Bruce Weber have each written more than a thousand obituaries for The New York Times. Our guest today - a veteran journalist who spent years writing evocative profiles of people they typically never met.

Nytimes obituaries