High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert McGill Thomas, Jr. (May 9, 1939 – January 7, 2000) was an American journalist who worked for many years at The New York Times, and who has become particularly noted for the obituaries he wrote for that newspaper. He wrote under the name Robert McG. Thomas; more than thirty of his obituaries were included in the anthology, The Last Word (1997). Since his death, a larger collection of Thomas` obituaries was published as 52 McGs.: The Best Obituaries from Legendary New York Times Reporter Robert McG. Thomas.