Why is it that the death of someone we know about, rather than actually know personally, can cause this sense of grief? We grieve them because public figures can play a role in what i was early calling our practical identities. So if you were a big fan of david bowey, thena his death might lead you to be reminded of the different occasions when you listen to his music. It's indisputably true that large numbers of people grieve the deaths of public figures. But we do grieve for lots of different things, even public figures.