Throughout her life, Rivers supported a number of charities, including God’s Love We Deliver, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Guide Dogs for the Blind. She has also donated time to Wounded Warriors and the National Osteoporosis Foundation.
“As comedians, we are all laughing because life is so horrible,” Rivers said in a 2010 interview, according to The Telegraph. “Life is so difficult and I cope with it by making jokes about absolutely everything.”
True to this ethos, Rivers even joked about her own funeral in Diary of a Mad Diva. “Please make sure no one knows,” Rivers wrote, “Melissa’s last words to me were, ‘Just sign this.'”