World's Greatest Ghost Writer

J.Y. Smith, the man who co-wrote the Washington Post's obituary for Gerald Ford that ran in today's paper, himself died last January. Meaning he wrote the obit for a man who outlived him.

Just another in an amusing set of stories resulting from pre-written obituaries. My favorite is when someone acccidentally put Bob Hope's obit on the wire several years before Hope actually died. Hope apparently watched news of his death on television one morning while eating a bowl of cereal. All the more funny since "the news of my death is greatly exaggerated" is exactly the kind of tired old line Hope was fond of delivering.