Deaths of famous people

I realise that it's always been one of the principal roles of newspapers and news media to report deaths of famous people but the preoccupation with them does take me by surprise sometimes. Today two of the older ones, in fact the oldest currently, are reported. Henry Allingham who became the world's oldest man at 113 last month has died. The astonishing facts of living in three centuries and serving in the first world war are newsworthy in themselves but it's the manner of his last couple of decades which caught my attention. He still thrived on life.

The other one is one of the US's most well known names and faces. It's a name which defies the habit of being made into an adjective when fame is achieved, Walter Cronkite. So such examples of Brownite, Blairite are avoided. Maybe -esque could be used, Cronkitesque... no don't think so