Congratulations on your first post!
Many data hygiene vendors will provide death information when asked. It's great to have a reliable confirmation.
Absent that, an arbitrary age cut-off is common, but only when you are confident of the birth year. If you are, I usually suggest an age of 110. However, there is a huge drop-off nationally after 105.
Still, you don't want to inadvertently kill someone off who is still alive! So, when automatically deceasing a record at any age, I suggest coding them as PD for Presumed Deceased. That coding effectively does the same thing internally as a Deceased coding. But it alerts the development staff to the fact that you have no proof.
John
John Taylor Principal, John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC 919.816.5903 Big ideas; small keyboard
Original Message:
Sent: 10/30/2025 8:27:00 PM
From: Ursula Lewis
Subject: Presumption of Death in Alumni Records
Hi,
My name is Urs Lewis, and I work in Advancement Services at New York University. This is my first time posting here, and I would very much appreciate any advice or thoughts you might have on the following question:
- When you have alumni records that date back many decades, some individuals--if assumed to be living--would now be over 100 years old. In your institutions, do you have an age cut-off above which you presume an individual is deceased?
Thank you in advance for sharing your insight.
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Ursula Lewis
New York University
ubl1@nyu.edu
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