Obituary | From the archive

The art of the obituary

Anecdotal, discursive and often extraordinarily funny, the newspaper obituary is one of British journalism’s most satisfying rediscoveries

Before The Economist published its first obituary in April 1995, we explored the revival of craft itself in our 1994 Christmas issue.

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Frank Auerbach in his studio

Frank Auerbach aimed only at one memorable image

Britain’s most obsessive figurative painter died on November 11th, aged 93

Baltazar Ushca extracts ice from the slopes of the Chimborazo volcano, in Chimborazo province, Ecuador on November 16th 2007

Baltazar Ushca climbed Chimborazo twice a week

The last Ecuadorean ice-harvester died on October 11th, aged 80

Composer Quincy Jones composing at his home studio in Los Angeles, United States, October 1974

Quincy Jones ruled popular music for half a century

The producer, arranger and film-score writer died on November 3rd, aged 91

Lily Ebert lived to share her story of Auschwitz

The Holocaust survivor and memoirist died on October 9th, aged 100

Fethullah Gulen tried to transform Turkey in the subtlest ways

The scholar, teacher and activist died on Ocrober 20th, aged 83

Sammy Basso led research into his own rare disease

The Italian biologist and longest-lived progeria patient died on October 5th, aged 28