Depends on what you mean by premature -- John Belushi died right on schedule, it seems to me.

One wants to see more of people who were only just getting started, or who were obviously into a great new part of life. Lots of people who died youngish had done a great deal, and probably done about all that was going to be original in the world. Some people were never long enough in the world, though they were eighty when they died. Gandhi should have lived another five years. If Lincoln had lived another 6 months, America would have been completely different.

John Keats.

yours,

Peter T.