I edit and write obits for @washpost, chronicling the lives of remarkable people. More active on š¦. Get in touch at harrison.smith@washpost.com
Joined January 2014
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Working out of the NIH, Judith Rapoport helped introduce the public to OCD, writing the 1989 bestseller āThe Boy Who Couldnāt Stop Washing.ā
She āessentially brought that disorder to light in the United States and around the world.ā My obit for the Post:
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Wrote about Thaddeus Mosley, the self-taught sculptor who worked nights at a post office, carving by day, before finding international fame at 92.
āMr. Mosley holds up an example thatās so critical for artists of all generations ā to keep going.ā washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Harrison Smith retweeted
Tomorrow, the Washington Post Tech Guild enters effects and decisional bargaining over the companyās illegal attempted layoffs of 76 of our colleagues. Our goal is to secure the best possible deal for our members: both those who want to stay and those who choose to leave.
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For @washingtonpost, I wrote about the death of Paula Doress-Worters, who co-wrote the landmark women's health book "Our Bodies, Ourselves."
She drew on her own experience with postpartum depression to bring the subject out of the shadows: washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Harrison Smith retweeted
#Vietnam Below- Neil Davis and I photographed the last US helicopter out of Saigon on 30 April 1975 0800. Juan Valdez was on it. He saw from the air NVA troops entering the city. @wapo @harrisondsmith tells his story. He died this week age 88: wapo.st/4u3yvb3
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Some echoes from an earlier war: The last Marine to leave Vietnam, Juan Valdez, died this month at 88. He was on the last helicopter to take off from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.
āHe was a model leader,ā said one Marine who served with him.
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Colman McCarthy, the longtime peace activist and Washington Post columnist, has died at 87.
āHe wrote about principles ā peace and nonviolence ā and he lived by those principles,ā said Don Graham, the paper's former publisher. āHe made The Post better.ā
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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For @washingtonpost, I spoke to former students and colleagues of Tre' Johnson, who died last week at 54. The onetime NFL standout had reinvented himself as a high school history teacher.
āHe got me to see more in myself than I knew was there.ā
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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RIP Frederick Wiseman. He was making movies into his 90s while trying āto do a natural history of the way we liveā ā capturing life at a housing project, psychiatric institution, city hall, public library and Michelin-starred restaurant.
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Wrote about LaMonte McLemore, gone at 90, who spread a message of joy as a singer in the 5th Dimension and photographer for Jet magazine.
"He was a sure shot. And I knew that if LaMonte was shooting it, it was going to be perfect."
washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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Harrison Smith retweeted
Will Lewisās exit is long overdue. His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution. But it's not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.
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Harrison Smith retweeted
Feb 7
āIām glad Will Lewis has been fired. I wish it had happened before he fired all my friends.ā
nytimes.com/2026/02/07/technā¦
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Harrison Smith retweeted
ā¦@dugganwapoā©ās last WaPo piece before being laid off is the kind of intricate masterpiece he has been writing since joining the paper in 1987. He is a newspaper original, a reporter at the top of the craft. washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/ā¦
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Bob Croft, who has died at 91, was a free diving legend. He set three world records, going deeper than most thought possible while participating in Navy studies that reshaped our understanding of the human bodyās limits.
My obit for the Post: washingtonpost.com/obituarieā¦
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No one exemplified the Post like Marty. Saying hello to everyone - everyone - when he came to work each night, he made it feel like you were part of one great big journalistic family, even if the aunts and uncles were sometimes bickering in the background. This is devastating.
The great ā¦@martyweilwapostā© is leaving The Post after 60 years. Hereās his speech on the occasion of his 50th
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Lovely tribute by @ErikWemple.
āI worked there for 60 years, and how many people get to say that about any occupation whatsoever?ā The thrill of seeing his work in print ānever vanished,ā he said. āIt never went away. It never got old.ā
nytimes.com/2026/02/05/businā¦
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"How a major...newspaper will carry on without someone...to summarize the plots of midlist literary novels is beyond me. But Iāll leave that challenge to the august managers who must now carry The Post forward."
Ron is a gem. And, as he notes, "nice." Subscribe to his Substack.
Feb 4
Iāve Been Laid Off. Iām Not Done. open.substack.com/pub/ronchaā¦
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Harrison Smith retweeted
Feb 4
My time at the Washington Post has come to end. I was among today's layoffs. I had the honor to work at the paper for 8 years, telling stories across the country, covering breaking news, then narrative stories, then poverty, then a little bit of everything in the DMV.
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Harrison Smith retweeted
I was told today my Washington Post job is being eliminated
It's just a job, but it's one that I was proud to do for 8 yrs alongside the best in the business
I'm here for opportunities to tell stories about the natural world and how we impact it
dino.grandoni@gmail.com
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RT @Marissa_Jae: I was laid off today by The Washington Post.
Iām proud of the work I have done at this place ā not just the award-winningā¦
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