Norman Lear’s cause of death revealed: Oscar-nominated comedy writer died from cardiac arrest aged 101 after suffering congestive heart failure

Oscar-nominated comedy writer Norman Lear died of heart problems.

According to his death certificate, obtained by TMZ, his “cause of death is listed as cardiac arrest.”

Additionally, the document listed “congestive heart failure as the underlying cause of death.”

The television legend, who was behind iconic series such as All in the Family, was 101 at the time of his death.

The screenwriter and producer died on December 3 at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes.

Lear's family said in a statement: “Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father and grandfather.

“Norman lived a life full of creativity, tenacity and empathy. He loved our country deeply and spent his life helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all.

“Knowing and loving him has been the greatest gift. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately and celebrate this remarkable human being.”

Lear's family said he died surrounded by loved ones as they told stories and sang songs.

With a career spanning more than six decades, Lear created or helmed some of the most beloved comedians in American television history.

These include “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “Good Times,” and “The Jeffersons.”

Lear, who won six Emmy awards for his work on television, was known for campaigning for liberal causes, including voting rights, and worked well into his 90s.

One of his milestones was creating the first African-American nuclear family to appear regularly on television: the Evans clan on “Good Times,” starting in 1974.

Lear injected the sensitive topics of race, sexuality, class, inequality and politics, such as the anti-war movement, into his work, breaking the sitcom model and beaming modern visions of family life to millions of American households.

At one point in the 1970s, Lear had eight shows on the air with an estimated 120 million viewers, according to Time Magazine.

Drawing material from social themes of the time, Lear's shows made network executives nervous because they had a deep and controversial atmosphere.

Lear and production partner Bud Yorkin brought “All in the Family” to the air in January 1971, and the show would go on to win four Emmys for best comedy over nine seasons.

It was based on a British show, 'Til Death Do Us Part, and gave American television one of its most memorable and controversial characters: Archie Bunker.

Carroll O'Connor portrayed Archie as a rough, loud New Yorker with racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic comments.

He was cast opposite an absent-minded wife he called “Dingbat,” a liberal daughter and an even more liberal son-in-law he called “Meathead” and played by Rob Reiner.

In a post on his social media, Reiner paid tribute to Lear, saying: “I loved Norman Lear with all my heart.

'He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the entire Lear family.”

ABC declined to air “All in the Family” twice, and CBS was initially hesitant to take it on.

When “All in Family” finally aired, it began with a disclaimer that said, “The show you are about to see is 'All in the Family.'

'It tries to highlight our weaknesses, prejudices and concerns in a humorous way. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show how absurd they are in a mature way.'

By the end of 1971, “All In the Family” was No. 1 in the ratings and Archie Bunker was a pop culture fixture, with President Richard Nixon among his fans

According to CBS, it was the highest-rated show on American television for five years, and TV Guide ranked it fourth on its list of the best TV shows of all time.

“The Jeffersons” was another spinoff of “All in the Family” and featured an upwardly mobile black couple who moved to Manhattan's glitzy Upper Eastside neighborhood.

Lear's other hits included “Sanford and Son,” a sitcom about a black junkyard owner in a Los Angeles neighborhood, and “Good Times,” a portrayal of a working-class black family in a Chicago housing project.

The most enduring creation of Norman Milton Lear, born on July 27, 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, was based in part on fact.

Many of the harsh words that came out of Archie Bunker's mouth were first spoken by Lear's own father, Herman Lear, who went to prison for selling counterfeit bonds, and often told his wife to “suppress herself” ' and called his son 'the laziest'. white boy I ever saw.”

“I grew up in a family that lived at the top of its lungs and nerves,” Lear told Esquire magazine.

Lear dropped out of college during World War II to join the military, flying 52 combat missions.

He went to Los Angeles in 1950 with the intention of becoming a publicist, but began writing for TV stars such as Danny Thomas, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Andy Williams.

Lear shifted focus in 1981 and founded the liberal activist group People for the American Way to expand voting rights and combat right-wing extremism.

He also founded the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication.

In 2001, he and a partner purchased an original copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and sent it on a three-year tour of American schools, libraries and events.

Lear remained a youthful presence for much of his life and continued to make television well into his 90s, rebooting One Day at a Time for Netflix in 2017.

He also appeared in two documentaries: 2016's Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, and HBO's 2017 look at active non-peers like Lear and Rob Reiner's father, Carl Reiner, If You're Not in the Obit , Eating breakfast.

In 1984, he was hailed as the “innovative writer who brought realism to television” when he became one of the first seven people inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

He later received a National Medal of Arts and was honored at the Kennedy Center for his contributions.

In 2020, he won an Emmy as executive producer of Live In Front of a Studio Audience: All In the Family and Good Times.

Lear is survived by his third wife, Lyn, and his six children.