I agree that losing someone when younger might be harder, because I think that void isn't about just knowing the parent as a person, but also about the "self-discovery" aspect of reflecting on the self through knowing a parent. My wife's niece and nephew lost their dad when they were young, one just a toddler. And it has been hard, but I also think that they have coped remarkably well.
Death comes to us all, which ,means that we may as well live a good life and be all we can be in the short slice of space we have.