베티 화이트 will be honored privately as the late comedian would have wanted.
Her close friend and agent at APA (Agency for the Performing Arts) Jeff Witjas tells PEOPLE that White — who died at the age of 99 12월에. 31 — will be put to rest in a private ceremony, which is still being planned.
“The arrangements are being handled privately and that was Betty’s wish,” Witjas says. “As in life, she never wanted people to make a fuss over her.”
Witjas shared that those hoping to honor White’s memory are encouraged to donate to her favorite organizations, which include: The Los Angeles Zoo, Tree People, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Wildlife Learning Center, Actors and Animals for Others, The Aquarium of the Pacific 그리고 Guide Dogs For the Blind.
“If someone has a desire to do something in her honor, you can support or donate to one or more of her favorite charities or even donate to a local animal charity of your choice,” 그는 말했다.
While White was widely known for her work on screen, she also had a passion for animal advocacy. The actress worked with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) — the nonprofit partner of the Los Angeles Zoo — for over 50 연령, joining the Board of Trustees in 1974.
White was honored as the City of Los Angeles’ “Ambassador to the Animals” ~에 2006, and was later made an honorary zookeeper by the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.
More recently in 2017, White received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal, which recognized her “commitment to wildlife and efforts to create a sustainable planet.”
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White’s death came just weeks shy of what would have been her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. Witjas 확인 to PEOPLE that the 골든 걸스 별 “died peacefully in her sleep at her home.”
에 2012, nearly a decade before her death, 하얀 말했다 뉴욕 타임즈 columnist Frank Bruni that she saw “nothing” difficult about aging and recalled her mom’s “wonderful approach to death.”
White explained, “그녀가 말했다, ‘We know we have managed to find out almost anything that exists, but nobody knows … what happens at that moment when it’s over’ … 그리고 그녀는 말했다, ‘It’s the one secret that we don’t know.’ So whenever we would lose somebody very close and very dear, she would always say, '잘, now he knows the secret.’ And it took the curse off of it somehow.”
White added, “I have no fear or dread of death. [하지만] I’m happy as a lark to stay around as long as I can.”