The Birthdays Of Dead People?

[+ Avalon]

Which is the proper form "My father's birthday is ..." or "My father's birthday was ..."?

[+ honcho]

I've never heard people say "Mozart's birthday was ... " although, sometimes, I have heard past tense used for not-so-famous folk.

 

I think grammatically speaking, the day of the year a person was born remains the same whether the person is live or dead, so "is" seems appropriate.