The passage of a milestone 100,000 lives lost due to the coronavirus in the United States has brought attention to how news organizations are trying to tell the stories behind the numbers. Yet since the pandemic started, the nation's obituary writers have tried to tell the world about Lopez, Morgan and thousands like them, to make clear there's a life behind every number. The Times was well-prepared to deal with the lives of the famous and accomplished. Its the one area, sadly, of advertising thats booming, says Los Angeles Times obituaries editor Steve Marble. Rocca said that the current crisis might mark a resurgence in interest about obituaries and finding out about people's lives.