I don't think it was “brushed off”. The main storyline in the article was the differences in lives and outlook across three generations of women: the main character, her mother and her daughter. The husband was a part of this story. The story of his father much less so. It was already a long article; the writer can't afford to branch out into the stories of all the surrounding relatives too.
"...his father killed himself by drinking rat poison after a family argument over money".
I can imagine, but will never truly understand the kind of hardship and turmoil the family suffered between greed, family value and survival.