The most important rule when it comes to publishing obituaries is obvious: Be sure the subject has died.

But that doesn't mean writers and editors don't start working on the obituaries of many well-known individuals before their deaths, sometimes long before their deaths. And sometimes, the people whose lives are being summarized participate in the preparations.

The death of Ronald Reagan, the nation's 40th president, was announced on the afternoon of Saturday, June 5. Saturday afternoons are fairly quiet and empty places in newsrooms across the nation, and the situation here at the Post-Gazette was typical. But most of the stories published here, across the nation and around the world for Sunday's editions had been done in advance.

In the Post-Gazette's case, Executive Editor David Shribman wrote the obituary that appeared in this paper before he even came to this paper. In fact, he wrote it almost a dozen years ago, when he was the Washington bureau chief of The Boston Globe. He wrote that obituary, and others that have yet to see the light of print -- testimony not to his foresight but to medical advances that keep presidents and senators and governors alive longer than in the past -- when the subjects were at the primes of their lives. And when he came to the Post-Gazette he sought and won the permission of the Globe, which after all was paying his salary when he wrote the pieces, to bring the obituaries with him.

The Reagan obituary posed several challenges, however. He crafted it so long ago that when Mr. Reagan wrote his poignant letter about his battle with Alzheimer's, Shribman had to insert excerpts from the letter into the piece. One year he nearly cancelled a Christmas vacation because a member of the Bush family told him that Mr. Reagan would likely pass away in 48 to 72 hours. That was a decade or so ago, and it stands as proof that not all news tips turn out to be accurate.

Shribman updated the Reagan obituary from time to time -- the goal was to capture the president's life and his impact on the life of the nation in a single narrative -- and then, on that quiet Saturday in the newsroom, gave it a final brush-up.

All news organizations have obituaries prepared in advance on individuals who are influential, powerful, famous or popular. They include entertainers, politicians, business leaders, municipal officials and celebrities.

The best ones are a long time in preparation. Because they are summaries of a person's life and life's work, the writer needs to become an expert on the topic. This requires not only reading about the person, but also talking with the people who knew him or her best. In many cases, the obituary writer will interview the subject as well.

The Post-Gazette has more than 100 advance obituaries in our files. Some are short biographies, while others are voluminous and include photo packages, already assembled and ready for publication.

Some, like the Reagan obituary, were written long ago. In other cases, advance obituaries had to be used shortly after they were finished.

Education reporter Bill Schackner wrote the obituary on former University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Wesley W. Posvar:

During the same effort that produced Posvar's obituary, the newspaper began conducting extended interviews with some prominent Pittsburghers on mini-disc recorders. That way, we would be able to post sound files on the newspaper's Web site, to accompany the written obituaries.

Curt Chandler, the associate editor/online innovation for the newspaper's Web site, led that effort, and one of the most successful ones was on the late Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Robert E. Dauer.

Dauer died in April 2002, just a few weeks after sitting down with reporter Jim McKinnon. McKinnon had not written an advance piece when Dauer died, so the task of doing it on deadline fell to reporter Jan Ackerman.

"One of the tricky parts of writing an obit about someone as prominent as the judge is striking a balance between recounting what he accomplished and capturing the essence of the man," Chandler said. The published obituary said Dauer's "quick wit and self-deprecating sense of humor were staples on Grant Street, where he livened up a dull court proceeding with quirky comments."

"In the on-line version, people could hear Dauer in his own voice laughing and joking about his first election loss, or the day a man arrived in court charged with shooting his motorcycle.

"We were a little nervous about how the family would react, since this was all new. But they loved getting a last chance to hear the judge and quietly asked for a copy of the interview on CD."