There is really no meaning of life until you put a meaning to it i.e to aspire to dreams, hopes etc. These meanings that we put to the meaning of life control us from our subconscious minds.
Then comes death which has as much meaning as life, everyone must die and taking words from the Buddha: death is caused by selfishness and greed etc; this is why death causes upset, we are greedy and selfish about life so we are sad when someone dies. Just to clear everything, yes I am saying that everyone is selfish, there is no way of being selfless- no such thing as a selfless deed.
There seems to be many skeptical people about life after death including me, i do not believe in a thing with so little evidence and up to now no way of proving any form of afterlife. However, i do believe that after death your mind cannot carry on functioning, but as one cannot remember anything about living, there is no loss and no problem. But if there was life after death I am sure that the dead would not want us to grieve too much and just to let them go, it is hard but has to be done.
Another partial belief of mine is that we have no meaning individually but are the pawns of a much greater power (God, gods etc) and they use us to accomplish their deeds. I do not like to think this as I do not like the idea of being controlled but this idea seems sensible if there are gods, one God or a greater power.
Generally i do not fear death as one cannot remember anything, a bit like sleeping without the dreams so we do not acknowledge the loss of life but i do not like the thought of losing my life. :o)