Probably because the perl process that launched gedit is finished (isn't connected to the shell anymore ie STDIN/STDOUT/STDERR are closed)

You can confirm by comparing strace/truss output with 

perl -e 'system q{gedit &} scalar <>;'

[download]

In reply to Re^2: Keep a "system" process running if script is prematurely exited? by Anonymous Monk
in thread Keep a "system" process running if script is prematurely exited? by westrock2000

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