Has anyone ever done a correlation study between marriages and obituaries in the New York Times?

The NYT Style section (Sunday – Weddings section) is, in many circles, seen as the most prestigious place to have a wedding announcement. They publish a limited number each week, and, with few exceptions, tend to be the weddings of the highly educated or the well-to-do, or the hyper-connected.

NYT obituaries are also pretty exclusive. You have to have been somebody (politician, business, arts, or just quirky) to rate one a New York Times obituary.

So there are two lifecycle sections in the Times that chronicle the elite.

My question—I would find interesting to know how many of the “elite” at marriage time remain “elite” enough to be featured in an obit. To what degree does being featured in the “upper crust” last a lifetime?

[My guess—it’s a very small number, maybe 2/10 of one percent. But it’s a non-zero number.]

Anyone want to do some groundbreaking PhD research?