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That was my first thought too. After thinking for a bit I decided that this sad news is meant to be about James, not about the cause of death. Leaving out the

That was my first thought too. After thinking for a bit I decided that this sad news is meant to be about James, not about the cause of death. Leaving out the cause of death keeps our focus in the right place and I can respect that.

parineum 7y ago
Leaving out the cause of death keeps you curious. It's clickbait not compassion.
- sdoering 7y ago
  so satisfying purely egoistical curiosity of strangers is compassion? and making it about the person is clickbait? wow Orwell would be pretty proud.
  - Markoff 7y ago
    if it was health related sharing such information can potentially save lives by prevention i don't care about details if it was accident or suicide, they could at least say if it was sudden death (unlikely caused by health at such age) or long disease
    - wirrbel 7y ago
      If its relevant to the people he interacted with, it will surely be shared with them. No need to put it into an obituary.
- smt88 7y ago
  Many times the death is announced before an official cause of death has been published. The journalist can ask the family, but they may not receive a response in time for publication (or the family might decline to offer a cause of death).
  - 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago
    In almost all of those cases, there’s information as to why that’s the case. For example “foo was found unresponsive and the cause of death has not been determined.” When a high profile or public figure passes away and the announcement intentionally leaves out cod info, 99% of the time it was a drug overdose or suicide. That’s just the sad reality of these articles like this.
    - CPLX 7y ago
      Not sure why this comment is being downvoted. It's just a factual statement, when you see a very conspicuous absence of information about the cause of death in a young person it's almost invariably overdose or suicide. I thought that was common knowledge.
- DangerousPie 7y ago
  Clickbait? Seriously? This is someone in a research institution publishing an obituary for a colleague they just lost. Do you really think that anybody involved in this cares how many clicks the page gets?
- smoyer 7y ago
  This is the university (his employer) celebrating his accomplishments and grieving over his loss. I don't think it's their job (morally or legally) to determine COD or even to speculate. Watch for an obituary in the Baltimore paper if you want to chase a funeral procession.

parineum 7y ago

Leaving out the cause of death keeps you curious. It's clickbait not compassion.

sdoering 7y ago
so satisfying purely egoistical curiosity of strangers is compassion? and making it about the person is clickbait? wow Orwell would be pretty proud.
- Markoff 7y ago
  if it was health related sharing such information can potentially save lives by prevention i don't care about details if it was accident or suicide, they could at least say if it was sudden death (unlikely caused by health at such age) or long disease
  - wirrbel 7y ago
    If its relevant to the people he interacted with, it will surely be shared with them. No need to put it into an obituary.
smt88 7y ago
Many times the death is announced before an official cause of death has been published. The journalist can ask the family, but they may not receive a response in time for publication (or the family might decline to offer a cause of death).
- 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 7y ago
  In almost all of those cases, there’s information as to why that’s the case. For example “foo was found unresponsive and the cause of death has not been determined.” When a high profile or public figure passes away and the announcement intentionally leaves out cod info, 99% of the time it was a drug overdose or suicide. That’s just the sad reality of these articles like this.
  - CPLX 7y ago
    Not sure why this comment is being downvoted. It's just a factual statement, when you see a very conspicuous absence of information about the cause of death in a young person it's almost invariably overdose or suicide. I thought that was common knowledge.
DangerousPie 7y ago
Clickbait? Seriously? This is someone in a research institution publishing an obituary for a colleague they just lost. Do you really think that anybody involved in this cares how many clicks the page gets?
smoyer 7y ago
This is the university (his employer) celebrating his accomplishments and grieving over his loss. I don't think it's their job (morally or legally) to determine COD or even to speculate. Watch for an obituary in the Baltimore paper if you want to chase a funeral procession.