"Died unexpectedly" in obit

[Anonymous]

A person I used to work with years ago died at 51. The obituary simply says that he "died unexpectedly". Nothing else is added. I also know he "retired" early less than two months before his death. The obituary does not mention any natural causes or anything else. What does it possibly mean?

[Anonymous]

Means the death was unexpected.

[Anonymous]

The obituary writers want you to know that they didn't know in advance that he would die. Beyond that, it's a private matter.

[Anonymous]

Suicide or OD 90% of the time. If it was a natural 'suddenly' (ie stroke or heart attack) it's usually spelled out to avoid the implications of the aforementioned causes.

[Anonymous]

Could mean fast moving cancer or some other disease; the fact that he was 51 and retired two months before his death is a clue that something like that may have happened.

Sometimes people have friends contribute to a disease cause in the deceased's name, but many times it will be a fund for children if they are young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suicide or OD 90% of the time. If it was a natural 'suddenly' (ie stroke or heart attack) it's usually spelled out to avoid the implications of the aforementioned causes.

This. If it's a heart attack, the obit will say heart attack

[Anonymous]

It means that he was not expected to die at that time, and that the cause of death is none of your business.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I guess seeing someone retire early from a very lucrative position at such an early age makes me wonder if "retired" = "fired" because of a some mental or addiction problem, followed by suicide or OD soon thereafter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suicide or OD 90% of the time. If it was a natural 'suddenly' (ie stroke or heart attack) it's usually spelled out to avoid the implications of the aforementioned causes.

Not necessarily. People don’t always want to share their loved one’s medical details, and many deaths with medical causes can have sudden onset (bacterial pneumonia, aneurysm, stroke, aortic dissection).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It means that he was not expected to die at that time, and that the cause of death is none of your business.

This is an anonymous forum. Why so grumpy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means that he was not expected to die at that time, and that the cause of death is none of your business.

This is an anonymous forum. Why so grumpy?

I didn’t read PP as grumpy, just maybe a little annoyed that OP seems intent on assuming that their acquaintance took his own life when there are many other possibilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I guess seeing someone retire early from a very lucrative position at such an early age makes me wonder if "retired" = "fired" because of a some mental or addiction problem, followed by suicide or OD soon thereafter.

Maybe. It could also mean he was diagnosed with a disease fairly late and for some reason the treatment didn't work as well. Or he caught Covid / pneumonia while in treatment and died.

I had a colleague this happened to during the H1N1 epidemic. We knew he had a chronic illness he was receiving treatment for, and he continued to work when he could, but caught H1N1 and died suddenly.

I mean, could be suicide but also could have been a medical diagnosis that caused him to retire suddenly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I guess seeing someone retire early from a very lucrative position at such an early age makes me wonder if "retired" = "fired" because of a some mental or addiction problem, followed by suicide or OD soon thereafter.

Maybe. It could also mean he was diagnosed with a disease fairly late and for some reason the treatment didn't work as well. Or he caught Covid / pneumonia while in treatment and died.

I had a colleague this happened to during the H1N1 epidemic. We knew he had a chronic illness he was receiving treatment for, and he continued to work when he could, but caught H1N1 and died suddenly.

I mean, could be suicide but also could have been a medical diagnosis that caused him to retire suddenly.

Yeah, but don't people say "after a short illness" or "of natural causes" to avoid the above-mentioned assumptions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It means that he was not expected to die at that time, and that the cause of death is none of your business.

This is an anonymous forum. Why so grumpy?

I didn’t read PP as grumpy, just maybe a little annoyed that OP seems intent on assuming that their acquaintance took his own life when there are many other possibilities.

And that maybe not providing medical details is intentional on the part of the family and/or at the deceased's request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I guess seeing someone retire early from a very lucrative position at such an early age makes me wonder if "retired" = "fired" because of a some mental or addiction problem, followed by suicide or OD soon thereafter.

You have an interesting bias in life. I would assume that the person was diagnosed with something terminal and decided to make his remaining time as meaningful as possible while he could, but the disease progressed much faster than expected.