It is the Sisyphean task of obit editors to stockpile “advances” for as many of the newsworthy undead as possible, and when Marv took the job he commissioned a blizzard of them from colleagues throughout the newsroom. In the coming years, writing in my spare time, I would produce dozens.
Today, the subject of the first advance I ever wrote, in 1995 — a major American scholar — is still going strong at 90-something. He remains, blast him, almost obscenely productive, forcing me to update his obituary several times a year.
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