Comedy legend and LGBT icon, Joan Rivers has died at the age of 81.
According to a report in People.com, Rivers stopped breathing during a surgical procedure on her vocal cords last week and had to be rushed from the clinic to Mount Sinai Hospital.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE., Rivers’ daughter Melissa said, “It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers.
“She passed peacefully at 1:17pm surrounded by family and close friends. My son and I would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff of Mount Sinai Hospital for the amazing care they provided for my mother. Cooper and I have found ourselves humbled by the outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received from around the world. They have been heard and appreciated.
“My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon.”
Rivers got her big break in 1965, when she appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The show established her particular comic style, poking fun at celebrities, but also at herself, often joking about her extensive plastic surgery.
Rivers was a tireless campaigner for AIDS awareness, famously competing with Elizabeth Taylor as to who was the first AIDS awareness campaigner. When Elizabeth Taylor died Rivers Tweeted, “Sad to hear of Elizabeth Taylor’s death. She was the 1st major celebrity to join me in the fight against AIDS when it wasn’t a popular cause.”
Rivers performed for countless AIDS fundraising events since the early 1980s and even donated her $125,000 Celebrity Apprentice winnings to God’s Love We Deliver, an organization that provides healthy meals to homebound New York City residents with AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.
NBC news reported that in recent years, death came up a lot in Rivers’ interviews and jokes as she coped with the loss of good friends. The night before she was hospitalized, Rivers did an hour of stand-up at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York City, where she joked, according to the New York Daily News: “I’m 81 — I could go at any moment. I could fall over right here and you all could say, ‘I was there!'”
