Friends of the family told 23ABC that Napier collapsed in his home sometime Monday night and was found Tuesday morning and taken to Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif.

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Napier was taken off of life support in the intensive care unit just before 1 p.m. Wednesday surrounded by his family, they told 23ABC.

Napier's son, Charles Whitnel, issued a statement on behalf of his family.

To all of those concerned:

On behalf of my sister Meghan & brother Hunter, each of us with very heavy hearts indeed, We wish to officially report the sudden passing of our father and long time Bakersfield resident Charles Napier early yesterday afternoon.

I wish to thank his caregivers at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital for taking such good care of him and doing everything in their power to restore his life under unbelievably difficult circumstances. I would also like to recognize and thank his first responders who secured and transported him there quickly and safely. We also wish to thank all of his friends who, as usual, have come together in force to support us in this great time of need.

I don't have words to describe what that means to us. It's very special and we consider ourselves extremely fortunate. We consider that a direct testament to how beloved and respected my father was and still is by all of you along with this entire community. You will not be forgotten. We hope you understand that we are awed and overwhelmed with the tremendous display of shock, sorrow and support by you all in this great time of difficulty for us. Therefore, we humbly ask for your respect of our privacy as we navigate through these first few difficult days. There is much to attend to and many important family decisions to be made. We have yet to formally finalize any plans for any memorial services at this time but whatever they my entail & whenever they may take place we wish that they be private in nature and we, again, humbly ask that all of you concerned in the community respect that.

We thank all of you for everything.

Charles Whitnel