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Autopsy: New York Times' David Carr Died Of Metastatic Lung Cancer

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Autopsy results Saturday showed New York Times media columnist David Carr died of complications from metastatic lung cancer.

Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the New York City Medical Examiner's office, says the autopsy shows heart disease was a contributing cause of death.

Carr collapsed at the newspaper's headquarters and died on Thursday. He was 58.

He had written the Media Equation column for The New York Times since 2002, and penned a memoir about his fight with drug addiction. He was lauded as ``the finest media reporter of his generation'' by the Times' Executive Editor Dean Baquet.

The Minneapolis native and University of Minnesota graduate had been an editor of the Twin Cities Reader from 1993 to 1995, and the Washington City Paper, the newspaper reported.

In New York, he had written been a contributing writer for the Atlantic Monthly and New York Magazine, and the media writer for Inside.com, before joining the Times, the newspaper reported.

Carr started with the New York Times as a business reporter on the magazine publishing beat, the newspaper reported.

Carr's 2008 memoir ``The Night of the Gun'' traces his rise from cocaine addict to single dad raising twin girls to sobered-up media columnist for the Times.

Just Wednesday, Carr appeared on "CBS This Morning," discussing the suspension of Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News and Jon Stewart's decision to retire from "The Daily Show."

He also spoke at the TimesTalks at The New School earlier in the day on Thursday.

Carr's death came one day after the passing of veteran CBS News and "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon in a car accident on the West Side Highway. He had issued a tweet in Simon's memory Wednesday night.

Carr had lived in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and their daughter. He also had two other children.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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