Evolution requires millenia of death because it needs huge numbers of generations for random mutations to beget species. Which means lots of critters had to breed and die for really looong periods of time.
Is it a big leap to assume that all species were immortal before the fall? Creation was "good" so why should it be assumed that it's "nature was red in tooth and claw" like our current environment? The "God saw that it was good" is what they hang the belief in no death on.
I guess I don't like have theory shoved down my throat, either. What makes anyone believe that there must be "no death" before something can ultimately be judged "good"? As Christ himself showed us, some things are worth dying for.
As for myself, I do not really see that evolution and creation are mutually exclusive. Perhaps the number of days taken are different, but who's to judge God's calendar? After all, if a thousand years is but a second to God....