Burt A. Folkart; Times Obituary Writer

Burt A. Folkart, a longtime obituary writer at the Los Angeles Times who chronicled the lives of hundreds of the famous and the not so famous, died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 68 and the cause of death was believed to be a heart attack or stroke, according to his brother, Bruce Folkart.

If ever there was a perfect match of writer and subject matter, it was Folkart and obituaries. Armed with an encyclopedic memory of Hollywood, Folkart was named biographical editor in 1979, at a time when William F. Thomas, then editor of The Times, wanted to improve the paper’s coverage in that important area.

“I had always wanted to expand obits, to give them a better treatment,” Thomas recalled Friday. “We all agreed that Burt was the kind of man to do the job.”

Folkart knew that the scope of the job was beyond what one writer and editor could do, so he enlisted the help of the entire editorial staff, circulating a list of noteworthy people and asking for obituaries to be prepared in advance of their deaths, a not uncommon practice at major newspapers. He built up an advance file of several hundred pieces.

His view was that The Times, being the hometown paper of the entertainment industry, should cover Hollywood well. To that end, he wrote beautifully detailed pieces on giants of the industry such as Frank Sinatra and Greta Garbo as well as such figures as Marian Anderson, Miles Davis, Jackie Gleason, Georgia O’Keeffe and Vladimir Horowitz.

He was also, as several staffers recalled, immensely considerate of the families of the people he wrote about. He knew most all of the old stars, directors, producers and other film folk. And even though the rest of the world might have forgotten them, Folkart always talked to them and treated them as somebodies.

Similarly, he was firm with family members about including the cause of death in obituaries, which proved important in the 1980s in raising public awareness of the scourge of AIDS.

A raconteur with an endless supply of anecdotes, jokes and quips, Folkart was a favorite in the newsroom. Behind his light exterior, Folkart was a quietly sensitive and thoughtful man. He was also a willing mentor to young writers and editors, helping the careers of several Times staffers.

Born in Santa Monica, Folkart was one of three children. After graduating from Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, he served in the Navy during the Korean War. After the war, he graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in English in 1958.

He started a career in the newspaper business, working at the old Los Angeles Herald Express as a police reporter and rewrite man before moving to the South Bay Daily Breeze as city editor. He worked for a few years at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., before returning to Southern California to work at the San Diego Tribune. He joined The Times in 1963.

At The Times, he held a series of editing positions, including assistant national/foreign editor and news editor on the Metro desk. Folkart was among the team of Times staffers who started the Orange County Edition in 1968, working there in a variety of capacities until 1978. He returned to the Los Angeles office that year and was named biographical editor, a euphemism for obituary editor, in 1979. He retired from The Times in 1993.

His finely honed sense of the macabre came into full view at his retirement party: He arrived in a vintage hearse with lilies on his chest.

In addition to his brother, Folkart is survived by a son, Burt Jr.; daughters Helene Folkart of Los Angeles and Lynn Stone of Arlington, Wash.; and one grandson.

Memorial services are being planned.