LS1 GTO. My condolences on the loss of your friend.

As to the question of the question, put me down as thinking it "crass".
(I may wonder, but it's none of my business if it is not disclosed to me without inquiry.)

"Polite" folk, just do not ask that. If it was for them to know, it would be made known to them.

(My grandmother, who almost made 105, taught me that and a whole lot more, as she was a big part of raising me at times.)

I recall a sentence from the Jimmy Breslin book, "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight", where he says Raymond the Wolf (a Mafioso chief) died of natural causes...his heart stopped beating when three men stuck knives in it.

I think I know exactly what I am going to die from:

Too many years of being rode hard and put up wet.

My condolences on the loss of your friend.

Excellent post. I appreciate the introspective moment you provided.