Tracking 4,837 older adults for 14 years, researchers found that experiencing multiple family deaths significantly increased mortality risk, but this effect operated independently of salivary telomere length—a key cellular aging biomarker. Surprisingly, among Hispanic participants, more childhood losses correlated with longer telomeres, while younger family deaths linked to longer telomeres in Black participants. These findings challenge the prevailing assumption that psychological stress uniformly accelerates cellular aging through telomere shortening. The disconnect between bereavement's mortality impact and telomere biology suggests that grief may damage health through alternative pathways—perhaps through inflammatory cascades, cardiovascular strain, or behavioral changes like sleep disruption and social withdrawal. This represents a significant gap in our understanding of how life trauma translates into biological aging. The counterintuitive racial differences point to potential protective adaptations or measurement limitations in diverse populations. While telomeres remain valuable aging markers, this large-scale study demonstrates their inadequacy for explaining stress-related health disparities. The research underscores the urgent need to identify the actual biological mechanisms through which loss accelerates aging and mortality, particularly in communities of color where bereavement patterns and health outcomes differ markedly from majority populations.