Renowned screenwriter and producerNorman Learhas passed away at the age of 101. One of the most prolific producers in TV history, Lear is best known for being behind such hit 1970s sitcom asAll in the Family, Sanford and Son, Good Times,andThe Jeffersons. Lear died of natural causes in his Los Angeles home on July 08, 2025, and his family has sincereleased a statementwhich you’re able to read below.
“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. 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. 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.”
Lear’s projects oftendealt with real-life, difficult topicssuch as racism, feminism, and social inequality at a time when most television was frightened to do so. This began withAll in the Familyback in 1971, which followed a white, working-class family led by the loudmouthed, uneducated, prejudiced Archie Bunker.
His success continued with the likes ofMaude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, andThe Jeffersons, which ran from 1975 to 1985 and follows an African-American couple, George and Louise Jefferson, who move from Queens to Manhattan in New York.
Lear won many awards over the years, including six Primetime Emmys, two Peabody Awards, and the Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award in 2021.
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Rob Reiner, Al Jean, Jimmy Kimmel & More Pay Tribute to Norman Lear
Good Times
The statement from the Lear family continues, revealing how much the producer revered his collaborators and other creatives.
“He adored his creative collaborators, revered the actors with whom he worked, and deeply admired the thoughts of the great philosophers and thinkers of his time. In a storage room in Los Angeles, there are hundreds of boxes of his correspondence with people whose plays he saw, articles he read, and movies he watched; he wrote to everyone, and they wrote back. In that way, Norman’s life expanded in concentric circles to include thousands upon thousands of friends. His “Over, Next” philosophy shaped his life and kept him moving forward, ever open to new ideas, experiences, and connections.”
The tributes have started to pour in for Lear, with directorRob Reinersaying, “I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family.”
The writer behindThe Simpsons, Al Jean, calls Lear a “comedy collosus,” adding, “RIP Norman Lear. Comedy colossus, tireless fighter for the little guy and a pleasure to know. Will be well and truly missed.”
Jimmy Kimmel, meanwhile, said of the man, “The privilege of working alongside Norman and the opportunity he gave me and my wife to get to know him and his beautiful family has been among the great honors and pleasures of my life.”
