Though she is best known as Tupac Shakur's mom, Shakur Davis also was a Black Panther as a young adult.
Deputies responded to a family member's call reporting "a possible cardiac arrest" at Shakur Davis' home about 9:34 p.m. Monday, the Marin County Sheriff's Office said.
Shakur Davis was taken to Marin General Hospital, where she died at 10:28 p.m., the office said. There was nothing suspicious about her death and there's no evidence of foul play, Lt. Doug Pittman said Tuesday. An autopsy was scheduled for later in the day.
"Sheriff's Coroners Office will lead investigation to determine exact cause & manner of Afeni Shakur's death," the office said in a tweet.
Shakur Davis was a "well-loved, well-respected" member of the community, Pittman said.
"Miss Shakur has had an extensive background not only in the community but her involvement with so many things," he said. "She's been a leader, a person people followed. All that said about who she's been and where's she's at now, this is a tragic loss for this community."
The Shakur family, in a statement, said she "embodied strength, resilience, wisdom and love. She was a pioneer for social change and was committed to building a more peaceful world."
From drugs to arts
In a 2005 interview ahead of the opening of the now-shuttered Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Shakur Davis recalled how her life was almost derailed by drugs and how her son got it back on track.
Her drug use made her so oblivious to what was happening in her life that when someone told her in 1990 that her son -- then on the precipice of becoming the biggest name in hip-hop -- was going to be on "The Arsenio Hall Show," she thought the person was lying, she said.
