Famed television producer Norman Lear, who created and wrote over 100 shows including the successful sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons”, has passed away.
His family announced on Wednesday that Lear died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 101.
Lear’s publicist confirmed to Variety that he died of natural causes.
“Norman lived a life of curiosity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all,” his family said in the statement quoted by CNN.
“He began his career in the earliest days of live television and discovered a passion for writing about the real lives of Americans, not a glossy ideal. At first, his ideas were met with closed doors and misunderstanding. However, he stuck to his conviction that the ‘foolishness of the human condition’ made great television, and eventually he was heard,” the family added.
Lear was born on July 27, 9122 in New Haven, Connecticut, the eldest child of Jeanette (née Seicol) and Hyman "Herman" Lear, a traveling salesman. He grew up in a Jewish household.
Beginning with “All in the Family” in 1971, Lear’s shows tackled fraught topics of racism, feminism and social inequalities that no one had yet dared touch.
“All in the Family” spurred a series of similarly popular and political spinoffs, including “The Jeffersons”, “Sanford and Son,” “Archie Bunker’s Place”, “Maude,” and “Good Times.”
Prior to his 100th birthday in 2022, Lear credited work, lox and bagels, the love of his family and laughter for his longevity.
He married three times, most recently to wife Lyn in 1987. He is survived by his wife, six children and four grandchildren.