E! EntertainmentJoan Rivers, who died on Thursday at age 81, will be memorialized in a private funeral at a Reform Jewish synagogue in her native New York, E! News has learned.
The comedienne and host of E!'s Fashion Police, who broke barriers for female stand-up comics, passed away at a hospital in the city a week after suffering complications from throat surgery at a nearby clinic. She is survived by her daughter and frequent co-star, Melissa Rivers, and her 13-year-old grandson, Cooper.
Joan's private funeral is scheduled to take place on Sept. 7 at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, the synagogue's director's office said in a statement to E! News. The event is invitation-only and will not be open to the general public or the press.
Joan is the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and was born Joan Alexandra Molinsky in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in 1933. Temple Emanu-El, now led by Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, was established in 1845 and was the first Reform Jewish congregation in New York City. It is also the largest in the world.
The comedienne had often joked about her death and had also said in a July interview with The Daily Beast that she wanted to be cremated. In her 2012 book I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me, she said she wanted her funeral "to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action."
"I want craft services," she added. "I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way."