Double Down

There is a professional obituary writer I know who calls the phenomena of a bylined obit on a subject being written by someone who has predeceased the subject themselves as a "double down." 

It's rare, but it happens, and happens because many obituaries for noted personalities are pre-written to a great extent by members of the obituary staff. Thus, when appropriate and all things have been corroborated, the pre-written obit gets floated up from the advance pile—perhaps needing some updates by someone else on staff who gets credit— and gets presented as the subject's obituary. When this happens, there is usually a note from the editor informing the reader.

There have been a few "double downs" over the years, most notably when Red Smith's byline appeared over Jack Dempsey's obit and when Mel Gussow's byline appeared over Elizabeth Taylor's. (After several alerts that Liz Taylor was dying—staff, get ready—she finally did pass away in 2011.)

I'm not sure there has ever been someone who earned two obituaries in the NYT, each one a day apart. The first was a paid notice by the Harold Bornstein, M.D. family; the second was a bylined tribute obit by Katherine Q. Seelye. For this occurrence I'm borrowing the phrase "double down."

The two obits couldn't be more different, even accounting that a bylined/tribute obit is a different animal altogether from a paid notice that is taken out by the subject's family, friends. or organization they were associated with. A tribute obit is considered a news item, and the staff at the NYT obituary desk writes these after gleaning information from the family and their own knowledge of the person's life.

All obits vary in length, and the paid notices can he somewhat short, and also incredibly lengthy. Some contain a photo of the subject. Most don't.

Paid is the operative word. They are expensive. Even given what can be a fairly staggering cost, I've seen paid notices take up to 3-4 columns in the section, agate type, with or without a photo. There was one the other day that might have set a record for length.

The paid notice for Dr. Bornstein was in Thursday's, January 14th edition, with a photo that was moderate in length. As is generally the case, the photo is of a younger Dr. Bornstein than one that would be of him at 73, when he passed away.

There are no warts revealed in a paid notice. Since they are written by the family, or someone helping them, they tend to be laudatory biographies, with basic facts thrown in. The paid notice for Dr. Bornstein is no exception. 

We learn Dr. Bornstein "as a lifelong learner, he often spent nights under a lamp reading and annotating Italian language literature." He still made house calls; "was a devoted husband and father" whose children "will miss regular trips to the Giants game with one of their biggest fans." And more. No warts.

A bylined obit is basically a wrestling no holds barred event. Warts emerge. Consider that on the obit for baseball's Tommy Lasorda the obiturist felt the need to include that Lasorda steadfastly denied his son was gay, despite the gay lifestyle and that he died of AIDS. That aspect of Lasorda's life even got further news treatment the next dat in the sports section. How things have changed.

In the bylined obit, Dr. Bornstein is immediately identified as being Donald Trump's physician for years, inheriting the patient's care from his father, also a physician, with whom he was partners with in the same private medical office. The family business.

Donald Trump is not mentioned at all in the paid notice, understandably we learn from the bylined obit because The Donald got pissed off that Dr. Bornstein revealed The Donald was taking finasteride, a drug prescribed for BPH, benign prostatic hypertrophy, but which also has the beneficial side effect of maintaining a man's head of hair. Need more be said? There is.

Since President Trump's term in office started in 2017, it is not beyond most memories that in 2016 when running for office, The Donald flourished a letter from his physician, Dr. Bornstein, that told the world "if elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

Sound like bluster we've come to know is bluster? Certainly. It took a few years, but Dr. Bornstein finally admitted the letter was dictated by the patient themselves. Can anyone be surprised? 

Reading the complete bylined obit you have to wonder if the death of Dr. Bornstein got promoted from the paid notice section to a bylined obit because it gave the NYT the opportunity to squeeze off another example of President Trump being vain and egotistical about his hair and throwing people out of his circle.

I have to wonder how the Bornstein family feels about going from their portrayal of a genial physician to someone who tangled with The Donald and seemed to lose, despite President Trump emerging like the egotistical boob that he is.

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