Remembered in death not life

I feel incredibly sad especially after reading this. It makes me wonder does a person have to be dead to matter? I'm not saying that someone's life does not need to be memorialiazed when they are are no longer living in this world. It's just that many receive so much more attention when they have passed on than they ever did when they were here. How is it that we are willing to spend so much of our emotional energy on the poor and disadvantaged among us after they are deceased under such sensational and unfortunate circumstances when a mere fraction of that could have made their life more comfortable or even extended it? Just wondering.