Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Letters to the Editor

All Points: When Prince died

Joy Meuleners holds her niece Keira Abeln at a memorial for Prince at Paisley Park on Sunday, April 24, 2016, in Chanhassen, Minn. When the music superstar died at age 57, it was in the same suburban Minneapolis studio compound where he had lived for years. He could have opted for the glamour of either coast but stayed home, where fans occasionally saw him in local nightclubs, a record store, or just bicycling near Paisley Park. )
Joy Meuleners holds her niece Keira Abeln at a memorial for Prince at Paisley Park on Sunday, April 24, 2016, in Chanhassen, Minn. When the music superstar died at age 57, it was in the same suburban Minneapolis studio compound where he had lived for years. He could have opted for the glamour of either coast but stayed home, where fans occasionally saw him in local nightclubs, a record store, or just bicycling near Paisley Park. ) Jerry Holt Star Tribune via AP

The death of music icon Prince on Thursday was another shock in a list of celebrity deaths in 2016, a year that is still young.

Natalie Cole, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Abe Vigoda, Harper Lee, Gary Shandling, Patty Duke and Merle Haggard are just a few of the other names on that list. Some, like Prince, were what many of us might consider still young when they died.

What is it about these deaths, individually or collectively, that hits us so hard? Are celebrities larger than life, and thus large in death? Or is it that we will miss what they gave us?

Send no more than 150 words with your name, home address and telephone number to letters@star-telegram.com. Deadline is Wednesday.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "All Points: When Prince died."

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER