Obituary Submission Guidelines

Please review our obituary submission guidelines before submitting obituary information for consideration.

We will write about anyone, regardless of status, who has lived in the Washington area for a substantial part of their life, typically about 20 years. But the person has to have had some involvement in the community outside the family, such as a church membership or job.

We tend not to write about elderly people who have come here at the end of their lives and aren't able to participate in the community.

If you have inquiries concerning news obituaries (the biographic articles written by The Post) please call News Obituaries at 202-334-7389 or e-mail newsobits@washpost.com. If you fax information to News Obituaries at 202-334-6553, please call the section after you have faxed your material.

We will not be able to publish news obituaries more than a month after death, so we must receive your submission within that timeframe.

Please include the following information when submitting a news obituary:

• Age.

• Date and place of death.
• Specific medical cause of death.

• Work history, including last job title and year retired.

• Town of residence.

• Town of birth.

• Length of time lived in the Washington area.

• Colleges and Washington area high schools attended.

• Degrees earned, including the year it was awarded and in what subject.

• Military service, where assigned abroad and personal decorations such as Bronze Star or Purple Heart.

• Other honors.

• Memberships and volunteer work in the Washington area.

• Names and towns of survivors, including spouse, children and siblings and parents, and numbers of grandchildren.

• All marriages.

We do not include funeral or memorial information, and we can't promise that an obit will run on a specific day. We do need the name of the funeral home. We don't publish it but need to be able to confirm the death.

To submit a news obituary, call News obituaries at 202-334-7389, fax the obituary information to 202-334-6553 or email the information to newsobits@washpost.com.

In the case of faxed or emailed obituary information, someone who can answer detailed questions about the deceased must call us afterward, at (202) 334-6477. We're open every day of the year. Best time to call is between 10:30 and 5:00.