A little saddened...

I just recieved an email from my stepmom.  She's been emailing back and forth with one of my aunts or cousins from the family that I never knew I had.
Unfortunately, a man, whom I've never known, passed away yesterday.  He was my Great Uncle.  I find myself saddened to not have met him, to not have gotten to know him.  I found that side of my family through facebook just a few weeks ago.  I wish I had tried sooner, so that maybe I could have met him, or so that my father could have met this man.  I don't know the type of man he was, but I would have liked to.  I feel saddened, and I didn't know him.  Is that right?  Am I being somehow selfish?
It feels a little odd.  To care about someone that I've never met before.  I hope to meet the rest of the family someday, and to get to know him through their memories.