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Norman Lear was serenaded with the theme songs of his television life as he slipped away, his son-in-law has revealed.
Dr. Jonathan LaPook, Lear’s son-in-law and a chief medical correspondent for CBS News, said Lear’s family was with him and made sure to give him a “soft landing for the plane.”
Lear, the creator of The Jeffersons, Maude, One Day at a Time, All in the Family, and more died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles at 101.
“The family was gathered around the bed, he was very comfortable and resting peacefully, and we did what we knew he would want us to do,” LaPook said today on CBS Mornings. “We were singing songs from Les Mis, which he loved, and also some of the songs from his TV shows.”
When they got to the theme for The Jeffersons, LaPook said he was overcome with emotion. “You never know when these moments are going to sneak up on you,” he said. “I kind of held it together, [but] then we were singing ‘movin’ on up to the East Side’ and I heard myself saying ‘to a deluxe apartment in the sky,’ I just lost it. Because he’s going to some deluxe apartment in the sky.”
Of that “soft landing,” LaPook said, “We wanted him to have a gentle landing and have no pain. If you were to say to someone in their 40s, ‘How do you want to die?’ [they would probably say,] ‘At age 101, surrounded by loved ones, with them singing to me and laughing and without any pain,’ and that’s exactly what happened. He had this expression: ‘Over and next.’ When something was over, it’s over, and it’s onto ‘next.’”
LaPook added, “It’s the best definition of living in the moment.”
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