Emily Langer is a reporter on The Washington Post’s obituaries desk, one of the most fascinating assignments in journalism. She has written about national and world leaders, celebrated figures in science and the arts, and heroes from all walks of life. Before joining The Post in 2007, she was an intern at the Atlantic Monthly and a researcher for “The Almanac of American Politics.” In 2010-2011, she was a Fulbright fellow in Trieste, Italy, where she researched the Italian experience of the Holocaust. She grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and graduated from Georgetown University.