Obituaries are commemorative totems for the natives and educational tools for immigrants. The native pursues the obituary to commiserate and reminisce, while the immigrant reads it to be educated and informed.
Cultural blind spots are the inevitable consequence of transitioning from one culture to another. The Interested immigrant voraciously consumes eulogy texts to plug those holes.
Rabbi Ysoscher Katz, Facebook photo caption (20 April 2015) [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152763636528639&set=a.10151170390208639.451104.509528638]