Step 1 · The first days
For most families this is the first text they write together, and one of the hardest. An obituary in Switzerland follows a settled order, and that order barely changes from one canton to the next. Once you know it, what is left is choosing a few words.
Updated on August 12th, 20268 minute read
The order has barely moved in decades, and that works in your favour. Most people who read the notice are looking for one thing, the time and place of the service, and they know where on the page it sits.
Obituary or death notice?
English splits in two what Swiss usage keeps together. In the UK and the US, a death notice is the short paid announcement and an obituary is the editorial life story a journalist writes. What a family publishes in Switzerland, the avis mortuaire or Todesanzeige, is the paid announcement. This guide calls it an obituary, as Funere does, and says death notice when the same text goes into a newspaper.
One sentence that sets the tone, religious or secular, and says who is announcing the death.
First name and surname, the maiden name for a married woman, the year of birth and the date of death. Some families give the two years and nothing else, others add the age.
Spouse, children and their partners, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, then one line for the wider family. In French-speaking Switzerland that line reads "les familles parentes, alliées et amies"; German-speaking notices sign off with "Verwandte und Bekannte".
Place, date, time and what kind of ceremony it is. If it is being held privately, say so here, so that nobody travels for nothing.
Where cards and messages should go. Often it is a child's address, because the home of the person who died will be cleared before long.
"No flowers, by request" with the account details of the charity, an appeal for privacy, or a line saying that no printed cards will be sent.
To the nursing staff, to the care home (EMS / Pflegeheim), to the home-care service, to the neighbours. Very common across Switzerland, and the people named do read it.
A short line, a verse, something the person used to say. In Switzerland it usually sits right at the top, above the opening line. One is enough; a second makes the notice heavy.
Two practical rules. Have the list of relatives read by three different people: a first name missing from a blended family is still being talked about years later. And check the date, time and place of the service twice, because that is the line everyone will use.
The stock phrases have hardly changed in generations. You can take a religious register or a secular one, or write your own words. No version is more correct than another.
Religious opening
Secular opening
The death itself
Closing lines
If the notice also goes into a local paper, the printed version usually follows the regional convention. French-speaking notices open with "Dans l'espérance de la résurrection" or "C'est avec une profonde tristesse que nous faisons part du décès de", German-speaking ones with "In Liebe und Dankbarkeit nehmen wir Abschied von", Ticino ones with "Con profonda tristezza annunciamo la scomparsa di". The funeral home sets these phrases every week and will suggest one.
On length, stay short: 60 to 150 words cover almost every case. A long notice reads badly, and papers charge by the area the text takes up.
Three registers, usable as they stand. Tap "Copy" and replace the underlined parts.
Example 1 · Classic, with a church service
The most common register, for an older person surrounded by family.
With love and gratitude, we say goodbye to
First name Surname
born date, died date
He died peacefully in his 88th year, after a long illness.
His wife: first name
His children and their partners: first names
His grandchildren: first names
and the wider family
The funeral service will be held at church, place on day and date at time, followed by cremation. The urn will be buried privately.
Family address: name and address
Our thanks to the staff of care home or nursing service for their care and their kindness.
This notice takes the place of a printed card.
Adapt the order of the relatives to your own family. If the date of the service is not fixed yet, a line saying that the time and place will be announced later is enough.
Example 2 · Plain and secular, private funeral
For a family keeping the day to itself, with a donation in place of flowers.
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of
First name Surname, née maiden name
1948 — 2026
She died on date at place, with her family beside her.
At her own wish, the funeral was held privately, with only the family present.
No flowers, by request. Donations may be sent to name of the organisation, IBAN IBAN, marked "in memory of first name".
Her children and her grandchildren thank everyone who looked after her.
Family address: name and address
Ask the charity for the exact wording it wants and for the account it uses for memorial donations.
Example 3 · Personal, after a sudden death
A more direct register, often chosen for a young person or after an accident.
Our son, our brother, our friend
First name Surname
1994 — 2026
died suddenly on date.
We will say goodbye to him on day and date at time at place, as simply as he would have wanted.
Please wear a colour he loved.
His family and his friends
Address: name and address
None of the traditional formulas are compulsory. The obituary belongs to the family, and papers will set a text written from scratch.
Everyday language runs the two together, and the distinction still helps. The obituary is a published text meant for a whole community: the village, former colleagues, people the family has long lost touch with. The printed death announcement card, called a faire-part in French-speaking Switzerland and a Leidzirkular in the German-speaking cantons, goes by post to a smaller circle, with the same text or a more private version.
Many families no longer send a card before the service, for lack of time. The closest relatives hear by phone and by message, and the published notice does the rest. That is what the line "this notice takes the place of a printed card" means, and it appears on a large share of Swiss notices.
Printed post comes back a few weeks later, as the thank-you card sent to everyone who wrote, sent flowers or gave to the charity. Three lines are enough, and nobody is counting the weeks.
Tell us what you need printed, whether announcement cards, thank-you cards or orders of service for the ceremony, and how many. We pass your request to a printer, who comes back to you with a quote. No obligation.
Some requests are forwarded to Funere's commercial partners. We may be remunerated when an order goes ahead, which never changes the price you pay. Always compare several offers before committing.
The funeral home usually offers printing as well. Ask both for an itemised quote before you order.
Speaking in front of a full room on the day you are least able to is an ordeal, and it is also what many families remember best afterwards. A simple frame helps enormously.
One sentence. Half the room does not know you and will be wondering who is speaking.
Leave the curriculum vitae out. Tell them a sentence she repeated, a habit of hers, one particular Sunday. The concrete lands; general qualities slide off.
One thing only. What you do differently because you knew him.
Two sentences addressed to the person who died are enough to end on, and that is what the room will remember.
Six practical points, worth more than the text itself:
Once the text is ready, it has to reach people. The funeral home normally deals with the press. Papers charge by the area the notice takes up, so a few lines too many cost real money: ask for the rate before the notice goes in, and have the amount listed separately on the funeral home's quote. Ask about the paper's deadline in the same conversation, as soon as the date and time of the service are fixed.
Publishing online has no such limit on format. The page stays up, and someone searching the name a year later still finds it.
The practices described here are the ones observed in Switzerland, and they vary by region, by denomination and by family. No law sets the form of an obituary: the examples above are starting points to adapt freely. Newspaper rates and printing prices are quoted by the paper, the printer or the funeral home. This page gives practical information, not legal advice.