“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today,” said the statement, which was released by Singleton’s publicist around 10 a.m. Pacific time. “This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors.”
Singleton, 51, a native of South Los Angeles, was nominated for an Oscar for his directing in his debut film “Boyz N the Hood,” which centered on three teenagers growing up amid violence in his home city. Singleton was in his early 20s and fresh out of film school when he directed the film. He was the first African-American and the youngest person ever to be nominated for the award.
He went on to direct more than 10 films and TV series, including the recent FX crime drama “Snowfall,” about the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. His most prominent films after his debut include “Poetic Justice” (1993), a romantic melodrama starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, and “Rosewood” (1997), about a historical white mob massacre against a town of black residents in Florida.
Singleton has also directed episodes of “Empire,” “American Crime Story,” and “Billions.”
His family members started vying for control of his business affairs after he had a stroke April 17 and was hospitalized in an intensive care unit.
His mother, Shelia Ward, filed court papers in Los Angeles last week asking to be appointed temporary conservator, or guardian. Singleton had not signed any health care directive or power of attorney, the papers said.
Ward said that Singleton was in a coma, but several of his children disputed her assessment of his medical state and opposed her controlling the medical and financial decision-making.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.