55 isn't young but it certainly is not old either. He sounds like he had a fully rounded life.
The president of my senior class in high school, quarterback of the football team, top 10 honors student, joined the Air Force and became a fighter pilot. At the age of 20, while ice climbing a mountain, he fell 200 ft. and died.
We weren't really friends, but I've often thought about him. Unrealized potential and a life cut short at such a young age. I have a son, a long happy marriage, and here I am getting close to 70 enjoying myself hiking into the forest to take photos.
I've never been a risk taker, but Ken obviously was fearless. I've had a full life and he never got to live his. He certainly made the most of the 20 years he was here.
Just existential rumination.