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Mary Tyler Moore cause of death revealed after actress is laid to rest

TV icon Mary Tyler Moore, who passed away Wednesday at age 80, died of cardiopulmonary arrest with three underlying causes, according to her death certificate.

TMZ.com posted the public document Monday showing that Moore had suffered from aspiration pneumonia, which is pneumonia contracted through inhaling food, drink, saliva or other substances into the lungs; hypoxia, a below-normal level of oxygen in the blood; and diabetes mellitus, the formal name for a variety of diseases affecting blood sugar.

Cardiopulmonary arrest is synonymous with cardiac arrest. This differs from a heart attack in that it is an electrical malfunction in the heart, which creates an irregular heartbeat, disrupting the flow of blood to the brain and other organs. A heart attack is the result of a blocked artery preventing blood from reaching part of the heart.

The certificate from the Connecticut Department of Public Health said that Greenwich resident Moore died at 2:15 p.m. and no autopsy was performed.

Moore, whose 1970s series “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” became a template for a generation of women desiring both family and career — was laid to rest Sunday in Oak Lawn Cemetery & Arboretum in Fairfield, reported the Connecticut Post. The private service commenced before 11 a.m. with a procession including the hearse carrying the seven-time Emmy Award-winner and Oscar nominee.

Fairfield Police Lt. James Perez told the paper about 50 people attended, including Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, with whom Moore starred in the 1990 telefilm “The Last Best Year.”

“There was a brief service,” Perez said. “It’s a beautiful site that she’s at,” he added of the rectangular plot with a small border and a five-foot-tall statue of a seated female angel. “It’s nice what the family did,” he said. “It was a nice little send-off for her.”