Away from the spotlight, his anchor was his wife, Joyce Lapinsky, whom he met in 1998 at a Ringo Starr album party. Their marriage in 2005 gave him a late-in-life steadiness that fame never could. As tributes pour in from Larry David, Bette Midler, Albert Brooks, and countless fans, one truth cuts through the grief: Richard Lewis didn’t just make people laugh. He made them feel seen, and he gave everything he had until his heart finally gave out.
