Zombie Writes Obit -- That's just odd

In case you missed it, the NY Times recently ran this obituary for James A. Van Allen, physicist and astronomer.

Ok, but check out the note about Walter Sullivan, the obit's author, at the bottom.

Walter Sullivan died in 1996. On a night just like tonight. In fact, tonight's the anniversary... ok, that may not be true.

So either Sullivan wrote the obit long before Van Allen died and the NY Times decided Van Allen didn't do anything in the last 10 years of his life worth updating the obit for (which is sad), or Sullivan is a Zombie Writer walking among us who must be stopped (which is cool).