Why does death of a family member, friend or just someone admired bring out sadness and pain?

Empathy.

My son put on a movie last night. One that I can hardly watch due to the thoughts it provokes in me. I had to shut it off midway through because i just didn’t want the last thing of my day to be a tear-jerker.

Our own fear of death.

Feelings of loss if the person is someone we know or love.

I don’t think our own fear of death has much, if anything, to do with it. Even in the case of someone we admire but have never met, it’s still a felt loss. For example, when Ronald Reagan died, I was deeply saddened because I greatly admired him, but I had no thoughts about my own demise.

Loss. The loss of an individual means that everything that person provided to you and the community will no longer be there. With some individuals, that is an enormous loss. Life changing. That’s painful. That brings sadness.

@wundayatta

GA!

The finality of it. It’s not like they’re going to be in another state or something where we can still talk to them or may see them in the future. Death is a hard thing to comprehend. It may seem simple but it’s huge.

All of the above at times.

If it is someone you know well and are close to – loss of that person from your life. Fear about how your life will continue without their input. The fear of missing them. Fear of the void that is left. And sometimes it is a void that is never filled. You always miss that person. The pain lessens but the loss, the missing them part, never goes away.

I also remember when Steve Irwin died. It was the suddenness. Here was this amazing, larger than life person – gone. I wasn’t even into Steve Irwin but I felt truly sad when he died. It was as @jca said so final but it also felt so ridiculous. It was so final but also so unexpected. It was sort of unbelievable.

I agree with @marinelife in that it brings our own fears about our mortality to the surface. I also agree that loss is a very painful feeling to experience. It brings all sorts of fears to the surface.

I’m with @CaptainHarley My Papa Lou (Godfather) is an old man and facing death within the next three months. I’m saddened although I haven’t been in his life within the last decade. Barely a visit here and there. I’m not afraid by my own death at all. This sadness and deep thinking of what he has done in his life just saddens me for some reason. And I know for a fact it has nothing to do with me dying eventually. I just keep thinking about what he has accomplished his whole life that I’ve known. And to see him go from strong and beastly to weak and sickly is just too much of a contrast. I also agree with @jca it’s like the end of the road (depending on what you believe). I guess instilled in humans are strong bonds and connections. It’s not like when we grow a flower and the flower dies that we are capable of being as sad as when someone, a caretaker, a father figure then dies. Maybe in the long run we understand that we depend on other humans to exist, to feel, to become logical to share and just overall feel alive with for the most part. Well that’s my 2 cents anyhow.