Richard Lewis hosts the Video Software Dealers Association’s award show at the organization’s annual home video convention at the Bellagio July 27, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Richard Lewis’ official cause of death has been confirmed just days after the comedian’s passing at the age of 76.

The “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star died as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest — also known as cardiac or circulatory arrest — at 9:22 p.m. on Feb. 27 at his home in Los Angeles, according to his death certificate obtained by The Blast.

The document reportedly notes Parkinson’s disease as a secondary cause of death. Lewis announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis last April, along with his plan to retire from stand-up comedy.

A progressive disorder, Parkinson’s affects the nervous system as well as parts of the body controlled by nerves, according to The Mayo Clinic. It can lead to stiffness and slowing of movement.
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It’s a little late, but I just wanted to say something about this, as I liked Richard Lewis. I may not seem like what you’d imagine the typical fan of his to be, but I was not a typical Black teenager when it came to comedy. I grew up loving Woody Allen movies. Something about that “neurotic New York Jew” caricature he always played appealed to me, for some reason. And thus I found myself being drawn many Jewish stand-up comedians. Jerry Lewis, Gab Kaplan, Shecky Greene, David Breener, Garry Shandling, Paul Reiser, Elayne Boosler, Billy Crystal, Joan Rivers, and Jerry Seinfeld, are just some of the names that immediately spring to mind when I think of the comedians I used to love watching when I’d see them on TV, and that list also includes Richard.

And to be clear, it’s not like I actively sought out Jewish comedians, I didn’t even make that connection at the time, it’s just who I found funny. It wasn’t until I got much older that I realized that string of commonality between so many of my favorite comedians.

I don’t remember when I first discovered Richard Lewis, it was sometime in the mid-1980s. I remember he briefly had a sitcom co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis called Anything But Loved that aired in 1989, and I know I checked it out because of him, so I was already a fan of his by that time.

So over the decades, I’d see him pop in other shows now and then, and he was always funny, even in small roles. Since the show started, he’s been playing a fictionalized version of himself on the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, by Larry David (another Jewish person whom I find extremely funny). The 12th and final season just began airing last month. I didn’t know about him being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, but I can say that I noticed he was looking a bit frail and sickly, even though he was still as funny as ever. But because of that, his death didn’t come as a complete shock when I first read about it.

Still, like George Segal (another Jewish person!), I’m happy that he least died as a working actor on a hit TV series, doing what he loved. Good for him, and R.I.P.