On Sunday, comedian Patton Oswalt shared some very wise – and heartbreaking – words of wisdom from his 7-year-old daughter, Alice, about the sudden death of her mom, and Oswalt’s wife, Michelle McNamara. 
 
 “When your mom dies you’re the best memory of her,” Alice said, according to a tweet from Oswalt. “Everything you do is a memory of her.” 
 
 "When your mom dies you're the best memory of her. Everything you do is a memory of her." — Alice Oswalt, 7 — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 1, 2016 
 
 Oswalt, 47, who has been largely silent on social media since McNamara’s death, posted Alice’s quote two days after he remembered her and her work. (The two wed in 2005.) 
 
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 “She wrote lines that stung & hummed. 13 years in her presence was happily humbling. #RIPMichelleMcNamara,” he tweeted, along with a link to make donations to 826LA, an organization that helps students strengthen their writing skills. 
 
 She wrote lines that stung & hummed. 13 years in her presence was happily humbling. #RIPMichelleMcNamara https://t.co/bSYWFFD8NY — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 29, 2016 
 
 McNamara, a true crime writer, died in her sleep on April 21 at age 46, Oswalt’s publicist told PEOPLE. 
 
 Her death “was a complete shock to her family and friends, who loved her dearly,” Oswalt’s publicist said, though no cause of death was given. 
 
 In addition to these remembrances of McNamara, Oswalt has been sharing multiple moving obituaries of her life and work. ||||| Patton Oswalt paid tribute to his late wife, Michelle McNamara, on Twitter today. 
 
 McNamara, a crime writer, died last week at home in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported. 
 
 No cause of death was given. 
 
 "She wrote lines that stung & hummed. 13 years in her presence was happily humbling. #RIPMichelleMcNamara," Oswalt wrote. 
 
 Oswalt, 47, and McNamara, 46, were married in 2005. They had one child, daughter Alice, who was born in 2009. 
 
 The actor also retweeted a link to 826LA, an arts organization accepting donations on McNamara's behalf. 
 
 "826LA encourages young writers to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills, and helps teachers get their classes excited about writing. A donation to 826LA in Michelle’s honor helps push forward her creative legacy," reads the website. "On behalf of Michelle, Patton, and Alice, we thank you for your donation." ||||| FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2012 file photo, Patton Oswalt, left, and his wife Michelle Eileen McNamara arrive at the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards in Los Angeles. McNamara, a crime writer and... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2012 file photo, Patton Oswalt, left, and his wife Michelle Eileen McNamara arrive at the 17th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards in Los Angeles. McNamara, a crime writer and... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Michelle McNamara, a crime writer and wife of comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, has died at her home in Los Angeles, according to Oswalt's publicist. McNamara was 46. 
 
 Kevin McLaughlin of Main Stage Public Relations said Friday that McNamara died in her sleep Thursday. No cause was given but McLaughlin said her passing "was a complete shock to her family and friends, who loved her dearly." 
 
 McNamara graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. She founded the website True Crime Diary, which covers both breaking stories and cold cases. 
 
 In a 2007 online interview, McNamara said she started the blog almost as a lark. "I wanted to get more involved in the cases that were fueling my own curiosity," she said. 
 
 She didn't focus on the big celebrity murder case but ones that were smaller and out of the public eye. She wrote about the Golden State Killer and the 1976 murder of nurse Melanie Howell. 
 
 "It's the ones that really don't get that much attention that interest me because I think what's interesting about them is there's more stuff to be unearthed that hasn't been in the public yet and you can do it," she wrote. 
 
 Oswalt is a comedian whose TV credits include "Veep," ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and "The King of Queens" and films including "Magnolia," ''Starsky & Hutch" and "Ratatouille." McNamara and Oswalt married in 2005. 
 
 Along with her husband, McNamara is survived by a 7-year-old daughter, Alice. ||||| Patton Oswalt has found love again after heartbreak. 
 
 On Saturday, the 48-year-old actor and comedian wed Meredith Salenger. The nuptials came over a year and a half after Oswalt’s first wife, Michelle McNamara, died unexpectedly in her sleep. 
 
 Here’s a look back at how Oswalt’s life has changed since last April. 
 
 A tragic loss 
 
 Oswalt wed crime writer McNamara in 2005, and the two welcomed a daughter, Alice Rigney, in 2009. 
 
 On April 21, 2016, McNamara died in her sleep at age 46. In an instant, Oswalt became a widower — and single parent. 
 
 Patton Oswalt and Michelle McNamara in December 2011 Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic 
 
 In an October 2016 interview with The New York Times, Oswalt recounted the last night he had with his wife, speculating that she may have accidentally overdosed. 
 
 McNamara, who was writing a book about a serial rapist and killer at the time, was working long days and nights and unable to sleep due to anxiety and nightmares. Worried about her health, Oswalt suggested she take a night to “sleep until you wake up.” McNamara took some Xanax and went to sleep — but never woke up. 
 
 The next morning, Oswalt remembered waking up early to get Alice dressed, packed and off to school. On the way home, he picked up an Americano coffee and left it on McNamara’s bedside table — around 9:40 a.m., he recalled. 
 
 Hours later, he checked to see if his wife was up yet. She was still in bed — not breathing. The paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. While a cause of death was not declared by the coroner’s office at the time, Oswalt said he believed the Xanax was to blame. 
 
 In February, Oswalt revealed McNamara’s cause of death: “We learned today the combination of drugs in Michelle’s system, along with a condition we were unaware of, proved lethal,” he wrote in a statement to the Associated Press. 
 
 Oswalt also explained that the couple had “no idea” McNamara had a heart condition that caused blockages in her arteries. According to Oswalt, the blockages, combined with her taking the medications Adderall, Xanax and the pain medication fentanyl, were responsible for her passing. 
 
 Learning to cope 
 
 On the one-year anniversary of her death, Oswalt remembered his late wife in a lengthy Facebook post — expressing a combination of grief, gratitude and perseverance. 
 
 “It’s awful, but it’s not fatal,” Oswalt began. “That’s the dispatch I’m sending back from exactly one year into this shadow-slog.” 
 
 He went on to say that he had removed his wedding ring and placed it in a box of keepsakes. 
 
 “I couldn’t bear removing it since April 21st, 2016,” he wrote. “But now it felt obscene. That anonymous poem about the man mourning his dead lover for a year and a day, for craving a kiss from her ‘clay cold lips.’ I was inviting more darkness. Removing the ring was removing the last symbol of denial of who I was now, and what my life is, and what my responsibilities are. But it’s not fatal.” 
 
 “I’m not making today any sort of dark ritual or painful memorial. No graveside visit. Those are for when Alice and I have something exciting to say to her. No candle lighting or balloon launching. We think of her every day — she’s still so tied into our worlds, in a way that’s encouraging, and energizing. So why light a flame that will die, or release a balloon that will disappear? Michelle’s gone but she wasn’t the kind of soul that disappears or dies out.” 
 
 A new beginning 
 
 In June, Oswalt stepped out for the premiere of Baby Driver with a very special guest by his side: his girlfriend Salenger. The couple held hands while posing for the cameras. 
 
 Patton Oswalt and Meredith Salenger at the Baby Driver premiere Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic 
 
 Salenger — a 47-year-old Harvard-educated actress with credits in TV and films including Lake Placid and Hollywood Heights, plus voiceover work for cartoons like Star Wars: The Clone Wars — also tweeted an adorable selfie with Oswalt in the theater. 
 
 At the time, a source close to the couple told PEOPLE the relationship was “new” and the two were “very happy.” 
 
 “They met through mutual friend Martha Plimpton,” said the insider. “They started chatting as friends and it blossomed from there.” 
 
 A month later, PEOPLE exclusively confirmed that Oswalt and Salenger were engaged. 
 
 “It’s official. I’m the luckiest happiest girl in the universe!!!!” she gushed on Instagram. “I love you @pattonoswalt I love you Alice Oswalt! #YesYesYes.” 
 
 “I put the ring in a marzipan [Star Wars] Slave I replica and said, ‘Will you be my Padawan of Love?’ ” Oswalt quipped of the proposal on Twitter. “She maced me but said yes later.” 
 
 I put the ring in a marzipan Slave I replica and said, "Will you be my Padawan of Love?" She maced me but said yes later. https://t.co/9gIr2yxfP5 — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) July 6, 2017 
 
 Hitting back at critics 
 
 After facing harsh blowback on social media for getting engaged 15 months after McNamara’s death, Oswalt and Salenger defended their decision on social media. 
 
 On Facebook, Oswalt referred to his critics as “bitter grub worms,” thanking blogger Erica Roman for writing an article in their defense. 
 
 “This is so amazing. And SO well-written,” he wrote. “I expected some bitter grub worms to weigh in (anonymously, always always always) with their much-needed opinions when I announced my engagement last week. And I decided to ignore them. But yeah, I felt this rage. And Erica articulated it better than I could have ever hoped. So there you go. Thank you, Erica.” 
 
 Salenger also posted Roman’s article alongside her own defense of the couple’s engagement. 
 
 “Everyone has been so lovely to us… ALL of Michelle’s siblings and friends and family… a few trolls have strong opinions,” she wrote. “But I think for Patton, having met and found love after over a year of intense therapy and openly grieving and dealing with his pain…I am grateful to be the one who helps him climb out of the depths of grief and find some joy again. And most of all… Alice is happy and feels loved.” 
 
 “I have waited 47 years to find true love,” she continued. “Creating our family unit while honoring the brilliant gift Michelle has given me will be my life’s goal and happiness. I am deeply in love with both Patton and Alice and very much looking forward to a beautiful happy life having adventures together.” 
 
 WATCH: Patton Oswalt Opens Up About Emotional Wedding to Meredith Salenger: ‘This Is a New Level of Joy and a New Life’ 
 
 Staying strong for Alice 
 
 Since McNamara’s death, Oswalt’s top priority is taking care of their daughter. 
 
 “If I hadn’t had a daughter and my wife died, we wouldn’t be talking right now. I’m not saying I would be dead, but I would be a shut-in alcoholic,” he told Playboy in August. “Everything would have shut down. I wouldn’t have been about anything. But with Alice, it was and is ‘You got to get up.’ ” 
 
 “There were times when I had to get her to play a game on her iPad or start a little project, and then I would say, ‘Oh, let me go upstairs,’ and I would go put my head in a pillow and just scream and cry because I didn’t want to break down in front of her,” he confessed. 
 
 Still, the father-daughter duo opted to stay in their family home, admitting that a move “would have been more painful,” and have felt like they were “running away from Michelle’s ghost.” 
 
 And at the end of the day, Oswalt said he chose to move forward with his life for the sake of his daughter. 
 
 “I’m moving forward — clumsily, stupidly, blindly — because of the kind of person Alice is,” he wrote in a December 2016 first-person essay for GQ. “She’s got so much of Michelle in her. And Michelle was living her life moving forward. And she took me forward with her. Just like I know Alice will. So I’m going to keep moving forward. So I can be there with you if you need me, Alice. Because I’ll need you. 
 
 “I can do it,” he added. “I can do it. I can do it. Because of you, Alice.” ||||| Loving wife to Patton Oswalt and devoted mother to Alice Oswalt 
 
 Michelle McNamara loved writing. Best known as a crime writer, she turned her passion into a unique, smart, and valuable resource for underexposed cold cases. Her affection for writing was contagious and inspired many writers, and people who care about writing, to pursue their creative outlets. Michelle graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Minnesota, where she delighted in helping young writers pursue their craft. Her interest in researching unsolved criminal cases sparked her to launch the website True Crime Diary. One case in particular, “The Golden State Killer” — a term she coined — resulted in a hugely successful article for LA Magazine that she was turning into a book for Harper Collins. 
 
 826LA encourages young writers to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills, and helps teachers get their classes excited about writing. A donation to 826LA in Michelle’s honor helps push forward her creative legacy. On behalf of Michelle, Patton, and Alice, we thank you for your donation. 
 
 Click below to make a donation to 826LA in Michelle’s name. 
 
 Photo by Robyn Von Swank ||||| Michelle McNamara passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on Thursday, in her home in Los Angeles. 
 
 McNamara was a true crime writer, and a graduate of Notre Dame, who received her master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. True Crime Diary was a popular blog that McNamara started to support her own personal interest in studying breaking and cold cases. NBC News quotes her as saying: 
 
 It’s the ones that really don’t get that much attention that interest me because I think what’s interesting about them is there’s more stuff to be unearthed that hasn’t been in the public yet and you can do it. 
 
 McNamara married Patton Oswalt in 2005, and they have a seven-year-old daughter named Alice. Oswalt spent most of Thursday tweeting about Prince’s passing, then silence through Friday until he shared The Hollywood Reporter’s obituary for his wife. Many celebrities are expressing their love for Oswalt, and memories of the lovely person McNamara was: 
 
 Image via Getty.
– Comedian Patton Oswalt hasn't said much online about the sudden death of his wife, true-crime writer Michelle McNamara. But when he posted, People reports, it was a doozy: "When your mom dies you're the best memory of her," Oswalt quotes his 7-year-old daughter Alice as saying. "Everything you do is a memory of her." In another tweet, 47-year-old Oswalt says "she wrote lines that stung & hummed. 13 years in her presence was happily humbling. #RIPMichelleMcNamara." Oswalt also retweeted a link soliciting donations to the arts organization 826LA, which encourages young writers to improve and teachers to get students excited about writing, ABC News reports. McNamara, 46, died of unknown causes in her sleep on April 21 at home in Los Angeles.