After fourteen years on the New York Times obituary desk, Margalit Fox (b. 1961) is retiring to write books. As a regular reader of Times obits, I have enjoyed Fox's mini-disquisitions on history and culture, as captured in the course of one person's life.
Rebecca Onion (also a fine observer) has an appreciation of Fox in Slate. The title and subtitle say it all: "The Quiet Genius of Margalit Fox's Obituaries: For years she's injected subtle, deft works of cultural history into the New York Times."