I must be weird. I'm sad when people die (I'm afraid of death, myself, if I'm honest) and I'm certainly reflective when (some) of those people pass, but I don't - and never have - really adjusted so radically when someone died. Several musicians have passed that I had a deep affinity for their work - Randy Rhoads, Chris Squire, Greg Lake, John Wetton, Freddie Mercury, Neil Peart - but it's not like I can't listen to their music. That was, after all, probably my only connection to them. I never met any of those people and, honestly, other than John Wetton, I never felt like I might as well have, because I "knew them so well". I didn't. I only knew what little pieces they wanted me to see.
I will sometimes lament that we don't have new material from them (Squire, Wetton), or lament what might have been (Rhoads), but I celebrate their work, and accept their passing as one of the many millions of milestones the world has experienced since mankind came to being. I'm better for having experienced them, but not beholden to them.