Actually, what surprises me is that he died at the hands of people who were supposed to be his enemies. I would have bet that one of your poorly treated NPC allies would end up being responsible for his death. Go figure.
Heck, I was expecting her to come back with the monkey!
And I'm a little doggone dissappointed that never happened!
Though 4E would probably make the monkey lame, like having to spend my character's actions so the monkey could attack. Yuck! (Which is why I don't plan to ever play a beastmaster ranger.)