We're launching something new on the obits desk today: What We Remember, a series of short essays in which readers reflect on a friend or family member who's recently died. These pieces can be funny, moving, tender or outrageous — whatever captures the person’s spirit.

Working out of the NIH, Judith Rapoport helped introduce the public to OCD, writing the 1989 bestseller “The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing.” She “essentially brought that disorder to light in the United States and around the world.” My obit for the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Judith Rapoport dies at 92. Her best-selling book introduced readers to OCD.

While working at the NIH, she wrote “The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing,” a groundbreaking study of OCD. She also researched childhood schizophrenia and ADHD.

washingtonpost.com

Wrote about Thaddeus Mosley, the self-taught sculptor who worked nights at a post office, carving wood by day, before finding international fame at 92. “Mr. Mosley holds up an example that’s so critical for artists of all generations — to keep going.” www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, who found international fame in his 90s, is dead

To focus on sculpting, he worked nights at a Pittsburgh post office. At 92, his art career finally took off.

washingtonpost.com

Tomorrow, the Washington Post Tech Guild enters effects and decisional bargaining over the company’s illegal attempted layoffs of 76 of our colleagues. Our goal is to secure the best possible deal for our members: both those who want to stay and those who choose to leave.

For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about the death of Paula Doress-Worters, who co-wrote the landmark women's health book "Our Bodies, Ourselves." She drew on her own experience with postpartum depression to bring the subject out of the shadows: www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Paula Doress-Worters, who helped break the silence on postpartum depression, dies at 87

She co-wrote “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” a 1970s touchstone conceived by and for women. The book offered information about abortion, pregnancy and postpartum life.

washingtonpost.com

Hired by the Daily Express at 21, in 1948, she was "game for anything, such as charming her way on to an RAF plane airlifting coal to the Soviet-blockaded city of Berlin. She landed smudged but triumphant." Lovely read from Veronica Horwell in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

Drusilla Beyfus obituary

Stylish newspaper and magazine journalist who enjoyed great success with her book Modern Manners, a guide to etiquette

theguardian.com

Some echoes from an earlier war: The last Marine to leave Vietnam, Juan Valdez, died this month at 88. He was on the last helicopter to take off from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. “He was a model leader,” said one Marine who served with him. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

The last Marine to leave Vietnam has died. Juan Valdez was 88.

As North Vietnamese troops closed in, he was the last Marine to board the last helicopter out of Saigon. “He was a model leader,” said one who served with him.

washingtonpost.com

Colman McCarthy, the longtime peace activist and Washington Post columnist, has died at 87. “He wrote about principles — peace and nonviolence — and he lived by those principles,” said Don Graham, the paper's former publisher. “He made The Post better.” www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Colman McCarthy, who preached peace as a Post columnist and teacher, dies at 87

After training as a monk, he left the monastery to go into journalism, writing a syndicated Post column that made him a prominent voice in the peace movement.

washingtonpost.com

For @washingtonpost.com, I spoke to former students and colleagues of Tre' Johnson, who died last week at 54. The onetime NFL standout had reinvented himself as a high school history teacher. “He got me to see more in myself than I knew was there.” www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

NFL Pro Bowler Tre’ Johnson, dead at 54, found a new calling as a teacher

He was a bruising offensive lineman, playing in Washington for eight seasons, before becoming a teacher and coach at a Maryland private school.

washingtonpost.com

RIP Frederick Wiseman. Another, very different cinema giant now lost. He was making movies into his 90s, crafting “a natural history of the way we live” while documenting life at a housing project, psychiatric institution and Michelin-starred restaurant. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Frederick Wiseman, a master of immersive documentaries, dies at 96

His films explored American institutions, from a psychiatric hospital to a public housing project, and brought him international acclaim.

washingtonpost.com

Wrote about LaMonte McLemore, gone at 90, who spread a message of joy as a singer in the 5th Dimension and photographer for Jet magazine. "He was a sure shot. And I knew that if LaMonte was shooting it, it was going to be perfect." www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

LaMonte McLemore spread joy through the 5th Dimension and Jet magazine

The singer and photographer was a founding member of the vocal group, known for No. 1 hits like “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.” He died last week at 90.

washingtonpost.com

If you're in D.C. a week from tomorrow, there's an event at Politics & Prose honoring the history of Book World. I think the tone will likely be less funerary than you might imagine. I know my comments will be. politics-prose.com/tribute-book...

Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue. His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution. But it's not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.

“I’m glad Will Lewis has been fired. I wish it had happened before he fired all my friends.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/t...

Washington Post C.E.O. Will Lewis Steps Down After Stormy Tenure

nytimes.com

My obit for Bob Croft, a free diving legend who set three world records while plunging into the Gulf Stream. “If you’re doing something that could possibly kill you and you don’t have at least a small amount of apprehension, you’re either a liar or a fool.” www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Bob Croft, free diver who ventured deeper than anyone before him, dies at 91

The barrel-chested diver set three world records and served as an underwater guinea pig for Navy scientists.

washingtonpost.com

After 20 years, I've been laid off at The Washington Post. substack.com/home/post/p-...

I’ve Been Laid Off. I’m Not Done.

After 20 years at The Washington Post, I’m suddenly on my own — and still writing about books.

substack.com

Chris Richards is of the greatest Post writers of all time, & the best music critic in the country. You want Chris’s words in your life, & I am going to keep them in mine. I have never before recommended a Substack. His brand new one has my immense endorsement: thefutureisourstomake.substack.com

THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE | Chris Richards | Substack

Music reccos/rants/prayers/curses by critic and co-listener Chris Richards. Click to read THE FUTURE IS OURS TO MAKE, by Chris Richards, a Substack publication. Launched 5 hours ago.

thefutureisourstomake.substack.com

Chris Richards@chrisrichards.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I’ve been laid off by The Washington Post Serving as this newspaper’s pop music critic for the past 16-plus years has been my privilege, my joy Endless solidarity to my righteous colleagues, endless gratitude to our faithful readers

I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.

You could build a newsroom from scratch with all the brilliant journalists who were just laid off at the Post. Devastated for all my friends and colleagues who lost their jobs today

When Myra MacPherson applied for her first journalism job in 1956, an editor informed her he had no openings on the women’s page. “I said I wasn’t considering the women’s department, and he looked at me as if I had said I just shot my mother.” RIP 👑 www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Myra MacPherson, trailblazing Washington Post journalist, dies at 91

The longtime Style section reporter defied gender stereotypes, covering current affairs and writing books about the Vietnam War and power-couple marriages.

washingtonpost.com

It takes all of us to make The Washington Post. Every section works together to create this authoritative, entertaining, worldwide news report. So, Jeff Bezos, #SaveThePost.

For nearly a century, the @washingtonpost’s foreign correspondents have been on the ground for the world’s most pressing stories. Now, our desk is facing potential steep cuts. Washington needs us. The world needs us. If you read us and need us, please watch this video and share.

Raised in Jim Crow-era Virginia, educated in a leaky-roofed one-room schoolhouse, Gladys West, 95, became a hidden figure behind the development of GPS. New from me in @washingtonpost.com: www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

Raised in the segregated South, Gladys West was a hidden figure behind GPS

Without the mathematical model that she helped refine, “the extraordinary positioning, navigation, and timing accuracy of GPS would be impossible to achieve.”

washingtonpost.com

My @washingtonpost.com colleagues worked round the clock this weekend to expose the truth of what's happening in Minneapolis and bring urgent weather news to millions facing dangerous cold and snow. If you value this work, tell Jeff Bezos to #SaveThePost www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

Federal agent secured gun from Minn. man before fatal shooting, videos show

A Washington Post analysis of videos sheds light on the encounter that left 37-year-old Alex Pretti dead.

washingtonpost.com

As @washingtonpost.com international & local correspondents, we have risked our lives, side by side, because we believe reporting from the ground serves the public good. To choke that engine of brave, committed colleagues would be devastating. If you value our work, tell Jeff Bezos to #SaveThePost.

A world without a strong Washington Post is a dark, dark world — more confusing, less informed. While my colleagues and I ask Jeff Bezos to reconsider layoffs and #SaveThePost, please consider subscribing if you don’t already. subscribe.washingtonpost.com/acquisition/...

Breaking news: The Post demanded in a court filing that federal law enforcement officials return electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter’s home, writing that the search “ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists.”

Washington Post demands government return materials seized from reporter

The Post demanded in a court filing Wednesday that federal law enforcement officials return electronic devices the government seized from a staff reporter’s home.

washingtonpost.com

"Cruise ships used to be about sailing and the sea. If you wanted to rent a room, you went to a hotel. People wore hard pants on planes. "Those were such quaint times." www.washingtonpost.com/travel/inter...

25 ways travel has changed this century

Our staff discusses the biggest moments and advancements that took place between 2000 and 2025. Then we asked travel industry stalwarts for theirs.

washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post Guild is alarmed and appalled by federal law enforcement’s search and seizure of reporter Hannah Natanson’s property and personal devices. Hannah is a valued member of our union whose work covering the federal workforce has been essential (1/3)

Investigators told the reporter that she is not the focus of the probe. The warrant said law enforcement was investigating a system administrator in Maryland who has been accused of taking home classified intelligence reports. https://wapo.st/4qULbi9