NEW YORK: Joan Rivers, the caustic stand-up comic and television host who blazed a trail at a time when comedy was all but off-limits to women, died in New York on Thursday. She was 81.
The award-winning star had been in Mount Sinai Hospital since August 28, when she reportedly stopped breathing during a medical procedure on her vocal cords at a clinic in New York.
New York State Health Department said it was investigating the circumstances that surrounded her reported cardiac arrest at Yorkville Endoscopy Center.
"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 pm surrounded by family and close friends," daughter Melissa Rivers said.
Melissa and grandson Cooper had kept a vigil at Rivers' bedside since flying in from Los Angeles as soon as she fell ill.
"My mother's greatest joy in life was to make people laugh," her daughter added. "Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."
Celebrities, including many younger female comics who followed her onto stages once dominated by men, raced to pay tribute to her rapier wit as their inspiration and to express their condolences.
"There are no words. Bon Voyage Joan," tweeted Oscar-winning actress and comic Whoopi Goldberg.
"A legend, a friend, a mentor, an icon, and wildly funny. One of a kind. RIP," said fellow comic Kathy Griffin, tweeting a picture of herself with Rivers.
In Los Angeles, a scrum of tourists and journalists gathered at Rivers' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where flowers were laid.
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