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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31846
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31846
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You use the past tense to report past things and the present tense to report present tense.

Death turns a number of present facts about a person into past facts. "John is Chair of the Board" becomes "John was Chair of the Board," but only because John is no longer Chair of the Board. It same would be true if John had resigned rather than died.

There are some interesting edge cases around this, though. When a person dies, we usually start to describe our relationship to them in the past tense:

    John was my Grandfather.

But if we phrase it the other way round, we keep the present:

    I am John's grandson. 

In other words, it appears that a person has to be alive to bear a relationship in their own right, but living persons can continue to bear relationships to the dead.

So there are some questions around which attributes the dead can continue to bear. Generally they lose their height and the color of their eyes, but they can retain certain accomplishments.

    John had blue eyes.

but

    John is the founder of the Smallville Softball League.

though

    John was the founder of the Smallville Softball League.

seems equally honored in usage.

Still, unless it clearly sounds strange, use past of past things and present for present and continuing things.

Original score: 1