Considerate Sample Death Announcement Emails and Subject Lines

These sample death announcement emails can help you to write a courteous message after someone's passing.

Michele is a writer who has been published both locally and internationally.

When you can't share the news of a death in person or you need to share it with a large group quickly, a sample death announcement email can help you find a respectful way to inform others of the loss. The key is to think about how you might break the news to employees, colleagues, or distant family members in person and then use those words in the body of your email.

Sample Email Death Announcements for the Office

Figuring out how to inform someone of death by email can seem difficult, but there are ways to humanize the message and gently break the news. When announcing a death to staff in an office, you want to maintain a professional and respectful tone. For large companies, you can announce the death of an employee via email using these death announcement funeral templates.

Sample Subject Lines for Email Death Announcements at the Office

It's important to include a descriptive death announcement email subject line so people don't overlook the message. Remember to keep the subject line brief, yet somber. You don't need to include the person's name in the subject line, but you can if you're a small company where everyone knows each other well.

• Sad loss for our company
• [Company name] mourns the loss of a valued employee
• Regretful notification of a family loss for one of our staff

Email Example Announcing the Death of an Employee

If one of your employees has died, and you can't share the news with everyone all together in a meeting, you could send an email like this to inform all the staff at the same time.

To: All Staff
Subject: [Company name] mourns the loss of our clerk

Dear [Company name] team,

On [Insert date], our team suffered a terrible loss. Our [Insert job title], [Insert employee first and last name], passed away after [Insert cause of death]. He/She was a hard worker and we will all miss his/her positivity. We understand this message may be difficult to process. Please know HR is available to help you deal with this loss in the coming days and weeks.

There will be open viewing hours at [Insert location name] in [Insert location town/city] on [Insert dates and times]. Any employees who wish to attend the viewing during standard work hours can let their manager know. You will not need to use any PTO for this occasion. There will be a card in the break room that everyone can sign to give to his/her [Insert family contact].

[Insert company name or your name and title]