The definition in this case was how many deaths had a 'prepared' obituary. news organisations will write obituaries in advance for 'famous' people, in order to

The definition in this case was how many deaths had a 'prepared' obituary. news organisations will write obituaries in advance for 'famous' people, in order to be prepared if they die unexpectedly; they simply print the obituary they have on file. There are people whose job it is to update these documents and add new ones. It seems like a reasonable, if slightly loose, metric.