It was his time. He knew that clearly and went out like a candle. A good friend once quoted his old dad who said, late in life, "Here today. Here tomorrow. Bejessus it drags on."
My dad used to glance at the obits in the newspaper. One morning he said - "Will you look at this ? - They're still dying in alphabetical order."
We need to remember something about the nature of grieving. For a start, it is does not bear too much analysis. And because it is so personal no one should presume to know what another is going through, regardless of whether the griever and the deceased are family or next of kin, or merely acquaintances. If someone does not want to articulate his or her loss, but prefers to internalise it in his or her own way, that is tantamount to a cry for "leaving it alone".