It's very annoying when young people let themselves die before you can consult them about their articles or books

 It happened again today, the much too young author of an article on Louisiana in the Civil War which I got from JSTOR has been dead since 2010.  Last week it was the terrific David L. Bigler who died in 2018. At least he tried to be around, dying at 90. He was a good buddy of Will Bagley, who died much too early, last fall.

And I know from experience that not a great many people had pestered them about their publications.

When someone writes something good he or she ought to make every effort to hang around to be consulted about it, or even be fed another tidbit that enriches the piece. The bottom line is that there are few people you need to consult, so you really want them to be alive in their 50s or 60s or 70s.