# RIP Andy Rooney: D'yever notice how many people retire and then die right away? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948 "2011-11-05T13:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/1 "2011-11-05T13:05:57Z")
[Why is that?](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319150/andy-rooney-dead-at-92/) RIP Andy Rooney. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/2 "2011-11-05T13:21:05Z")
Frankly, Andy Rooney had a pretty easy gig. I have no difficulty in understanding how he was able to keep going at it until he was nearly dead. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/3 "2011-11-05T13:58:18Z")
Just when you never thought Steve Jobs and Andy Rooney would have anything in common… ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/4 "2011-11-05T14:01:37Z")
Just heard it on the radio. I have no feelings one way or the other, just thought I’d announce it here. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/5 "2011-11-05T14:03:41Z")
Gone? You think he’s gone? He’s not gone! He’s right outside the door waiting to deliver two minutes of annoying grousing about crematory urns. Now if we can just get rid of Mickey. . . ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/6 "2011-11-05T14:04:45Z")
Merged duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/7 "2011-11-05T14:22:55Z")
This is a large part of why I plan never to retire. I took 3 months off work once; I almost lost my mind (barely got out of my robe; stayed up until 4am and slept away my day). Being forced to look presentable and leave my home at a normal hour and in the proper mindset to work, at least a few days per week, enables me to function normally in other aspects of my life. Besides when I’m old and tired, going to work somewhere might keep me active when I otherwise wouldn’t have the motivation not to sit all day. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/8 "2011-11-05T14:24:20Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > [Why is that?](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57319150/andy-rooney-dead-at-92/) > > RIP Andy Rooney. Just a WAG. If you are doing something you truly love, you don’t want to retire. So you keep doing it until your body is simply physically unable to continue…which is usually right before you die. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/9 "2011-11-05T14:27:33Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Just a WAG. If you are doing something you truly love, you don’t want to retire. So you keep doing it until your body is simply physically unable to continue…which is usually right before you die. Alternatively, some people, like my mother’s former boss, have nothing else to keep them going. He was a research doctor who loved his work (but hadn’t really produced anything useful for many years), his wife had passed away years ago, his kids were grown and didn’t live nearby, and he basically had nothing to do at home. Eventually he was forced to retire and he died within just a couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/10 "2011-11-05T14:29:04Z")
Presumably Andy Rooney knew he was sick and that he wouldn’t be able to continue to work for much longer anyway. It’s hard to tell because his family isn’t releasing the cause of his death. Until they do, we can’t know for sure if what he died of also causing him to retire. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/11 "2011-11-05T14:33:00Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Presumably Andy Rooney knew he was sick and that he wouldn’t be able to continue to work for much longer anyway. It’s hard to tell because his family isn’t releasing the cause of his death. Until they do, we can’t know for sure if what he died of also causing him to retire. I think he died from complications of being 92. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/12 "2011-11-05T14:33:11Z")
I was going to post about his illness in an earlier thread, but didn’t. I thought he’d die pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/13 "2011-11-05T14:55:39Z")
what i read was that he died from complications after some surgery. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/14 "2011-11-05T15:14:18Z")
So it seems to be a mixed bag as to why, as a couple of the explanations here seem like they may be the reason why in some cases. 1. Some retire because they are getting too frail from some illness that they may or may not have already been aware of. They work until it is close to their end. The being near death is causing the retirement, not the other way around. (Jobs and Rooney.) 2. Some are lost souls when they retire with nothing else to organize their lives around. ( **DCnDC** ’s mother’s former boss and **Rhub** ’s future.) I’ll add in that even with an enjoyable retirement, someone with interests and the means to explore them, it is a major change in lifestyle and focus and a loss of a social support system. That’s still stress and if their is something evil brewing in their systems stress like that can bring it out. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/15 "2011-11-05T15:14:37Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > what i read was that he died from complications after some surgery. I am fighting the urge to say something irreverent here really hard. RIP, Andy. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/16 "2011-11-05T15:46:05Z")
“Complicatons from surgery” is useless as a cause of death. What kind of surgery was it? Why was the surgery necessary? Was the cause of the surgery something that was going to kill him soon? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/17 "2011-11-05T15:52:54Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/andy-rooney-wry-60-minutes-commentator-dies-133038061.html](http://news.yahoo.com/andy-rooney-wry-60-minutes-commentator-dies-133038061.html) That news made me really sad. I always liked the old curmudgeon. R.I.P., Andy ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/18 "2011-11-05T16:03:16Z")
Ooops. My bad. I did do a search before posting. Apparently not thorough enough. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/19 "2011-11-05T16:03:32Z")
**Jenaroph** , I added an “RIP Andy Rooney” to the front of your thread title so I don’t have to keep merging in the duplicate threads. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948/20 "2011-11-05T16:03:58Z")
> [@omni-not](#): > > Ooops. My bad. I did do a search before posting. Apparently not thorough enough. No biggie. I changed the thread title to make it clearer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-andy-rooney-dyever-notice-how-many-people-retire-and-then-die-right-away/601948.md?page=2)