“To me, one of the most desirable jobs in newspapers has always been in the obituary department. Blame it on my taste for the epic, but it seems like the act and art of summarizing great lives would put you a little closer to a sense of what all this quotidian nonsense of life adds up to. (I would put astronomers and entomologists in the same category). So I thought Jon Thurber, the obituary editor from the Los Angeles Times for over a decade, would be the perfect person for Under God to talk to about life and death and how it all works.”
Interesting perspective. I never viewed an obituary editor as a job that would be even slightly interesting. The editor being interviewed said they have about 400 advance obituaries, you know, just in case.
