Autopsy Report Reveals E. Lynn Harris Suffered Heart Attack

A week ago, New York Times best-selling author E. Lynn Harris suffered a heart attack while staying at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Coroners Office.

On Wednesday, July 28, an autopsy was performed on the 54-year-old "Basketball Jones" writer, revealing that the cause of death was hypertensive, arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and that he had a history of diabetes.

"He died of natural causes," the L.A. Coroner's Office told ESSENCE.com. "Essentially he died of a heart attack."

According to Medicine.net, arteriosclerosis is the "hardening and thickening of the walls of the arteries." The condition is usually a buildup of fatty deposits on the inner lining of arteries (atherosclerosis), calcification or thickening of  the muscular wall of the arteries from chronically elevated blood pressure. However, when arterioscleros affects the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle, a shortage of oxygen delivered to the heart itself can cause a heart attack.

Last Tuesday, the former IBM executive boarded a train from Alburquerque, New Mexico, to Los Angeles for a meeting with CEO of Edmonds Entertainment Tracey Edmonds, allegedly to sell the rights to his books. During his travel, he fainted but medics aboard the train said his vital signs were okay.

Two days later while meeting with one of his students from his alma mater, University of Arkansas, where he served as an adjunct professor of English and sponsor and coach of the cheerleading squad, Harris took his final breath.

"Lynn and his student were about to order some food when the student got up to turn on the TV and heard a loud thud," Harris's personal assistant Laura Gilmore told ESSENCE.com. "When he turned around Lynn was on the floor and they called the ambulance who arrived in five minutes but they weren't able to revive him."

Harris had also completed a screenplay for a remake of the 1970's African-American cult classic, "Sparkle" (to be produced by Warner Bros. with Deborah Martin Chase and Whitney Houston) and was  tapped by Fox Television to write the pilot of a new dramatic series.

Funeral services for Harris will be held on Saturday Aug. 1, at 1:00 P.M. ET at the Gaines Street Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. A memorial service is tentatively scheduled  in Atlanta at the end of August. No further details are available.

"He was so kind and generous with his time, advice, money and everything," says Gilmore. "He will be missed but his legacy will live on."