Wendt's publicist, Melissa Nathan, confirmed that he had died earlier that morning in a statement shared with PEOPLE

When George Wendt, the actor who played Norm, died recently, people of a certain generation remembered a comfortable, if not inspiring, presence. Norm had a job he didn’t like (accounting) and a wife he avoided (Vera), but he did have friends in a neighborhood pub (Cheers) in Boston where everybody did know his name.