Edited by Susan Fiske, Princeton University, Jamaica, VT; received April 26, 2025; accepted August 3, 2025

August 26, 2025

122 (35) e2510318122

• Significance

• Abstract

• Data, Materials, and Software Availability

• Acknowledgments

• Supporting Information

• References

• Information & Authors

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Significance

What signals a life well lived? We addressed this question by examining millions of obituaries over time, across cultural events, and exploring how legacies were modified by demographics of the deceased. The most prevalent personal value in obituaries was tradition (e.g., focusing on religion). Cultural events, like the COVID-19 pandemic, linked to changes in legacy reflections as well. For example, care for close others (benevolence) decreased throughout the pandemic and never recovered, even 4 y after its start. Finally, legacies of women showed minimal fluctuations with increased age; legacies of men showed more dynamic and systematic age-related changes over time. Obituaries tell an important psychological and cultural story about how societies remember others and what constitutes a meaningful life.

Abstract

How societies remember the dead can reveal what people value in life. We analyzed 38 million obituaries from the United States to examine how personal values are encoded in individual and collective legacies. Using Schwartz’s theory of basic human values, we found that tradition and benevolence dominated legacy reflections, while values like power and stimulation appeared less frequently. Major cultural events—the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic—were systematically linked to changes in legacy reflections about personal values, with security declining after 9/11, achievement declining after the financial crisis, and benevolence declining for years after COVID-19 began and, to date, not yet returning to baseline. Gender and age of the deceased were also linked to differences in legacy: Men were remembered more for achievement, power, and conformity, while women were remembered more for benevolence and hedonism. Older people were remembered more for tradition and conformity than younger people. These patterns shifted dynamically across the lifespan, with obituaries for men showing more age-related variation than legacies for women. Our findings reveal how obituaries serve as psychological and cultural time capsules, preserving not just individual legacies, but also indicating what US society values collectively regarding a life well lived.

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Data, Materials, and Software Availability

Based on the terms of the data acquisition agreement, underlying data for this study cannot be made publicly available. However, those who are interested in forming a collaboration with the present authors to tackle additional empirical questions should contact the corresponding author (D.M.M.) to discuss this process. If a project commences, the authors may provide limited access to a sample of the data for analytic purposes. Direct access to the data (for a fee) from Legacy.com can be arranged by contacting personnel at [email protected].

Acknowledgments

Author contributions

D.M.M., S.S., and L.Y. designed research; D.M.M. performed research; D.M.M. analyzed data; and D.M.M., T.M., S.S., K.F.L., and L.Y. wrote the paper.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interest.

Supporting Information

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