Sample Obituary for a Father: Template and 7 Examples to Copy

An obituary for a father uses the standard seven-part structure, with two things families usually spend the most time on: how to write about his working life without turning it into a resume, and how to format military service correctly. Most run 250 to 450 words.

What follows is a fill-in template, seven complete samples covering a veteran, a sudden death, a father of small children, a grandfather, a stepfather, and an estranged father, plus the wording rules for suffixes, ranks, and nicknames that trip families up at the last minute.

What goes in an obituary for a father?

The seven standard blocks:

1. The announcement: full name with suffix and nickname, age, city, date of death
2. The biography: birth, parents, schooling, military service, marriage, career, and what he did outside of it
3. Survived by
4. Preceded in death by
5. Service details, including military honors if applicable
6. Memorial contributions
7. A closing line

Two adjustments matter for a father specifically. First, military service usually gets its own sentence and belongs early in the biography, before career, because it typically came first chronologically and because veterans' organizations, honor guards, and national cemeteries all key off it. Second, the career sentence should stop at one or two facts. Job title, employer, and years of service tell readers what they need. The rest of the space belongs to who he was when he was not working.

Free obituary template for a father

[FULL NAME] [SUFFIX], [AGE] [BIRTH DATE] to [DEATH DATE]

[FULL NAME], [AGE], of [CITY, STATE], [died / died peacefully / died unexpectedly] on [DAY, DATE] at [PLACE].

[FIRST NAME] was born [BIRTH DATE] in [CITY, STATE], to [PARENT] and [PARENT]. He graduated from [HIGH SCHOOL] in [YEAR] and [attended / earned a degree from] [COLLEGE]. He served in the [BRANCH] from [YEAR] to [YEAR], [rank at discharge, unit, and where he served].

On [DATE], he married [SPOUSE] at [PLACE]; they were married [NUMBER] years.

[FIRST NAME] worked as [JOB TITLE] at [EMPLOYER] for [NUMBER] years, retiring in [YEAR]. He was a member of [CHURCH / UNION LOCAL / VFW POST / LODGE / CLUB].

[Two to four specific sentences: what he built, fixed, drove, coached, watched, argued about, or did every Saturday morning for thirty years.]

[FIRST NAME] is survived by his [wife/partner], [NAME], of [CITY]; his children, [NAME] ([SPOUSE]) of [CITY] and [NAME] ([SPOUSE]) of [CITY]; [NUMBER] grandchildren, [NAMES]; and his [brother/sister], [NAME] of [CITY].

He was preceded in death by his parents, [NAMES]; his wife, [NAME]; and [OTHERS].

Visitation will be held [DAY, DATE], from [TIME] to [TIME] at [FUNERAL HOME, ADDRESS]. A [funeral service / Mass / memorial service] will be held [DAY, DATE] at [TIME] at [VENUE], with [OFFICIANT] officiating. [Burial with military honors] will follow at [CEMETERY].

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to [ORGANIZATION, ADDRESS OR WEBSITE].

[Closing line.]

Seven obituary examples for a father

Fictional names and details throughout. Take the structure.

1. Simple obituary for a father (short, about 110 words)

Ronald Paul Kaczmarek, 76, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, died Monday, January 12, 2026, at Aurora BayCare Medical Center.

Ron was born September 8, 1949, in Green Bay to Stanley and Irene Kaczmarek. He worked thirty-four years as a millwright at the Georgia-Pacific mill and was a member of USW Local 213.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-one years, Judith Kaczmarek; his children, Brian Kaczmarek (Amy) of De Pere and Lisa Kaczmarek Voss (Todd) of Appleton; five grandchildren; and his brother, Gary Kaczmarek.

A funeral service will be held Saturday, January 17, at 11:00 a.m. at Blaney Funeral Home, 1521 Shawano Avenue, Green Bay.

2. Traditional obituary for a father (full-length)

Charles Everett Lindqvist Sr., 83, of Duluth, Minnesota, died Saturday, November 7, 2026, at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center.

Chuck was born March 14, 1943, in Two Harbors, Minnesota, to Everett and Signe Lindqvist. He graduated from Two Harbors High School in 1961 and from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1966 with a degree in civil engineering.

On August 20, 1966, he married Karen Lundeen at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Two Harbors. They were married fifty-eight years.

Chuck spent thirty-nine years with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, retiring as a district bridge engineer in 2005. He was president of the Duluth Curling Club, served twelve years on the Hermantown school board, and could tell you the design load of most bridges on Highway 61 without looking it up.

He restored a 1966 Ford F-100 over eleven years and drove it to the grocery store. He read three newspapers a day, in order, and would not be interrupted during the second one. He took his grandchildren smelting in April whether or not they wanted to go. He watched the Vikings with the sound off.

Chuck is survived by his wife, Karen; his children, Charles Lindqvist Jr. (Beth) of Minneapolis, Katherine Lindqvist Ahmad (Sameer) of Chicago, and Erik Lindqvist of Duluth; seven grandchildren, Nils, Greta, Amina, Theo, Sam, Ruby, and Hank; and his sister, Ingrid Lindqvist Moe of Silver Bay. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Dale Lindqvist.

Visitation will be held Thursday, November 12, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Dougherty Funeral Home, 600 East 2nd Street, Duluth. A funeral service will follow Friday, November 13, at 11:00 a.m. at Concordia Lutheran Church, with burial at Oneota Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Duluth Curling Club junior program or to Concordia Lutheran Church.

3. Veteran obituary for a father

Sergeant First Class Leon Anthony DiCarlo, USA (Ret.), 81, of Wilmington, Delaware, died Friday, May 22, 2026, at the Delaware Veterans Home.

Leon was born July 30, 1944, in Philadelphia to Anthony and Rosalia DiCarlo. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1963 and served twenty-two years as an infantryman and later as a drill sergeant, including two tours in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division. His decorations included the Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, and the Army Commendation Medal.

After retiring from the Army in 1985, he drove a school bus for the Brandywine School District for seventeen years, which he described as harder duty.

He married Angela Marchetti on April 6, 1968, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Philadelphia. They were married fifty-four years before her death in 2022.

Leon was a life member of VFW Post 475 and stood honor guard at more than two hundred funerals for other veterans. He made his own wine in the basement, badly, and gave it away as gifts. He never once left a table without picking up the check.

He is survived by his children, Anthony DiCarlo (Maria) of Newark, Rosalie DiCarlo Pruitt (James) of Bear, and Michael DiCarlo of Philadelphia; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and his sister, Concetta DiCarlo Ruiz of Cherry Hill. He was preceded in death by his wife, Angela; his parents; and his brother, Salvatore DiCarlo.

Visitation will be held Wednesday, May 27, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Doherty Funeral Home, 1900 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Thursday, May 28, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church. Interment with full military honors will follow at Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to VFW Post 475 or to the Delaware Veterans Home activity fund.

4. Obituary for a father who died suddenly

Andre Martell Coleman, 47, of Memphis, Tennessee, died unexpectedly on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Andre was born February 19, 1979, in Memphis to Willie and Deborah Coleman. He graduated from Whitehaven High School in 1997 and from the University of Memphis in 2002. He worked for the past thirteen years as an operations manager at FedEx Ground.

Andre coached his son's Pop Warner team for six seasons and never cut a kid. He grilled every Sunday from March to November. He talked to strangers in line and left knowing where they were from.

He is survived by his wife, Tanya Coleman; his children, Jordan (16), Amaya (12), and Micah (9); his parents, Willie and Deborah Coleman of Memphis; and his brothers, Marcus Coleman (Sherri) of Nashville and Terrell Coleman of Memphis.

A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, August 29, at 12:00 p.m. at New Direction Christian Church, 6120 Winchester Road, Memphis.

Memorial contributions may be made to the education fund established for Jordan, Amaya, and Micah.

(For a death like this one, our guide to memorial options after a sudden death covers what has to be decided in the first two weeks and what can wait.)

5. Obituary for a father and grandfather (grandchildren as the center)

Walter James "Pop" Nieminen, 89, of Marquette, Michigan, died Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at home.

Walter was born October 2, 1936, in Ishpeming to Aatto and Helmi Nieminen. He worked underground at the Empire Mine for thirty-one years and above ground on his own woodpile for the next thirty.

He had eleven grandchildren and never confused any of them. He taught all of them to fish, five of them to drive a stick, and two of them to play cribbage well enough to beat him, which he claimed had never happened. He kept peppermints in his shirt pocket. He answered the phone by saying his own name, as a question.

Walter is survived by his children, James Nieminen (Sue) of Marquette, Karen Nieminen Aho (Rick) of Negaunee, and Paul Nieminen of Green Bay; eleven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and his sister, Elsie Nieminen Hakala. He was preceded in death by his wife of sixty-one years, Irene; his parents; and his brother, Toivo Nieminen.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 4, at 1:00 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, 305 West Magnetic Street, Marquette.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Marquette County Habitat for Humanity.

6. Obituary for a stepfather

Dennis Ray Holloway, 72, of Ogden, Utah, died Sunday, June 14, 2026, at McKay-Dee Hospital.

Dennis was born December 3, 1953, in Pocatello, Idaho, to Ray and Wanda Holloway. He worked as a diesel mechanic for Union Pacific for twenty-nine years.

He married Sandra Whitaker Brooks on May 9, 1992, and became a father to her three children by simply behaving like one, which they have said is the only qualification that ever mattered.

He fixed things for people who could not pay him. He kept a tidy garage and an untidy truck. He went to every recital, game, and graduation across three kids and later across eight grandchildren, and he was always early.

Dennis is survived by his wife, Sandra Holloway; his children, Michelle Brooks Tanner (Kyle) of Layton, Jason Brooks (Erin) of Salt Lake City, and Nathan Brooks of Boise; eight grandchildren; and his brother, Duane Holloway of Pocatello. He was preceded in death by his parents.

A graveside service will be held Friday, June 19, at 10:00 a.m. at Ogden City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Ogden Rescue Mission.

7. Obituary for an estranged or distant father

Kenneth Dale Prosser, 70, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died Monday, September 21, 2026.

Kenneth was born August 11, 1956, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Dale and Betty Prosser. He served in the United States Navy from 1974 to 1978. He worked in commercial roofing for most of his adult life.

He is survived by his daughter, Amanda Prosser Lynch of Conway; his son, Ryan Prosser of Dallas; three grandchildren; and his sister, Donna Prosser Gaines of Benton. He was preceded in death by his parents.

A graveside service will be held Friday, September 25, at 2:00 p.m. at Pinecrest Memorial Park. Memorial contributions may be made to the Arkansas Veterans Home.

Short, factual, and dignified. An obituary is a public record and a notification, not a summary judgment on a relationship. If siblings want different versions, our piece on when families disagree about memorial choices covers how to get to text everyone can sign off on.

How do you write about a father's work without writing his resume?

Most obituaries for fathers over-invest in career and under-invest in everything else. The fix is a ratio: one or two sentences for work, three or four for the man.

Work sentence, complete version:

He spent thirty-nine years with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, retiring as a district bridge engineer in 2005.

Job title, employer, duration, retirement year. Done. Add a second sentence only if the work was genuinely the story: he founded the business, he was the first person in the county to do the thing, he trained half the tradesmen at the plant.

Then give the space to specifics. Four questions that reliably produce them:

1. What did he do every Saturday morning for thirty years?
2. What did he build, restore, repair, or refuse to replace?
3. What did he say so often that you can hear it right now?
4. What was he stubborn about?

If he was undemonstrative, do not manufacture warmth he did not show. Write what he did instead. Actions read as affection without anyone claiming it. The same material also feeds the spoken tribute at the service; our eulogy examples for a father show how these details work when read aloud.

Military service: what to include and how to write it

If he served, the biography sentence generally includes branch, years of service, rank at discharge, unit, and where he served:

He served in the United States Army from 1963 to 1985, retiring as a Sergeant First Class, and completed two tours in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division.

Points families frequently need:

• Rank in the headline. Some families put the rank and retired status in the opening line: Sergeant First Class Leon Anthony DiCarlo, USA (Ret.), 81. Standard abbreviations are USA (Army), USMC (Marine Corps), USN (Navy), USAF (Air Force), USCG (Coast Guard), and USSF (Space Force).
• Decorations. List the significant ones. Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, and campaign medals are commonly named. The funeral home can pull the full list from his DD-214.
• Military honors at the service. If an honor guard will be present, write "Interment with full military honors will follow at [cemetery]." Honor guard support is arranged through the funeral home, and a copy of the DD-214 is what unlocks it, along with burial in a national or state veterans cemetery.
• Veterans organizations. VFW, American Legion, DAV, and post numbers matter to the people who will read the obituary and show up. Name the post.

Wording questions families ask

How do you handle Jr., Sr., II, and III? Include the suffix in the opening line exactly as he wrote it: Charles Everett Lindqvist Sr. If his son shares the name and appears in the survivor list, list him with his own suffix: his son, Charles Lindqvist Jr. (Beth) of Minneapolis. When a father was called "Sr." only after his son was born, the suffix still belongs in the obituary, because it is how records and readers distinguish them.

What about a nickname? Put it in quotation marks in the opening line, then use it throughout: Walter James "Pop" Nieminen. If the whole town called him Pop, printing "Walter" for four paragraphs will make him harder to recognize, not easier.

Should you list a stepfather as a father? Follow what the family actually calls the relationship. "Her stepfather" and "her father" are both correct, and many families write "he became a father to her three children." Survivors can be listed as "his children" or "his stepchildren" depending on what the family prefers.

Do you name a former spouse? Usually only if she is the mother of surviving children and the family wants her included, in which case a phrase such as "the children's mother, Sandra Prosser" is common. Otherwise she is omitted.

What if you do not know his biographical details? The funeral home's death certificate worksheet already carries his birth date, birthplace, parents' names, and occupation, because state vital statistics require them. His DD-214 carries the service record. County marriage and property records fill in the rest. A short obituary now and a longer version posted online later is entirely acceptable.

Frequently asked questions

How long should an obituary for a father be?

Most run 250 to 450 words. Because newspapers charge by line, inch, or word, many families publish a 200 to 300 word version in print and post the full-length version on the funeral home's website or an online obituary platform, where length usually costs nothing.

What do you say in an obituary for a father?

Include the announcement of his death with full name, suffix, nickname, age, city and date; a biography covering birth, parents, schooling, military service, marriage and career; three or four specific details about who he was outside of work; survivors listed from spouse outward; family who died earlier; service details including any military honors; and memorial contribution instructions.

How do you include military service in a father's obituary?

State the branch, years of service, rank at discharge, unit, and where he served, in one sentence early in the biography. Significant decorations can be named. If an honor guard will attend, write "Interment with full military honors will follow at [cemetery]." The funeral home arranges honors using a copy of his DD-214.

Should a father's obituary include his job?

Yes, in one or two sentences: job title, employer, years of service, and retirement year. Longer career detail belongs only when the work was genuinely the story, such as founding a business or training a generation of tradespeople. The remaining space is better spent on specific details about his life outside of work.

How do you write about a father you were not close to?

Write short, factual, and neutral. Name, age, date of death, a few biographical facts, survivors, and service details are enough. An obituary is a public record and a notification, not a verdict on the relationship, and no reader counts the sentences.

Can you write "Dad" or "Pop" in an obituary?

Yes, in the closing line or in a nickname. Newspapers set the biographical sections in third person, so the body of the obituary uses his name. Families frequently close with a direct address such as "We will miss you, Pop," and most publications accept it without comment.

Where to go next

For the master set of templates and nine more worked examples across other situations, see our obituary templates and samples. For the step-by-step process, from gathering facts to hitting the newspaper deadline, see how to write an obituary. If you are writing for both parents, we have a companion guide for an obituary for a mother.

If this is one of a dozen things due this week, our after-death checklist puts the sequence in order, and our guide to planning a funeral covers what the funeral home will ask you to decide next.