We don't have an official cause of his death. He took a nap and did not wake up. As Muslims we bury the dead as soon as possible, often even if it means not investigating the cause.
From among the whole world's population who lived while I was alive, Nasser single-handedly was by far the most inspirational person I knew of. Eventually we became close friends, and I did not view him so much as the pro bodybuilder anymore but someone I consider myself very lucky to have been friends with.
A few of my better memories of Nasser:
1) I wrote him a fan-letter in 1996, he wrote back a lengthy letter and included in 8x10. I met him for the first time three years later in 1999 at a photo-signing. I gave him my first name to address the photo to and casually mentioned that I wrote him three years ago. He then asked from what city? When I told him the name of the city he asked me "Raja?" (my last name). I was astounded that of the tens of thousands of fans he met he would have remembered the name of a teen who wrote him three years ago. Many others had similar instances of Nasser remembering their name at various photo signings and wrote to Flex magazine about it. A few years ago I asked him how he remembered my name? He said he obviously did not remember all names, but whenever he'd come across what he felt was a touching letter or fan he made it a point to remember them, even though he knew he would probably not see or hear from the person again.
2) During a calamity I was facing a 4/5 years ago Nasser was extremely supportive. He literally called me every 4 hours or so to see how I was doing and how I was handling things. He would tell me to call him any time I needed to talk to someone, even if it was at 3-4 am during his sleep he would wake up to call me or answer my call.
3) The second of the three times I visited him in SD was with my wife on 2010 NYE. Since I was travelling with my wife I would be often doing the touristy things in SD and having lone-time with her. For that reason I booked a rental car so that I would not be depending on Nasser for rides everywhere. Our flight was to LA and I booked a rental car to drive to SD the evening we arrived and to drive back a week later. When I told him I had booked a rental car he insisted I cancel it and that he would drive from SD to LA and back to pick me us up from the airport - a 6 hour round drive, followed by another 6 hours upon our return. I told him no it's alright, and he kept asking me to cancel it, saying that after the flight we'll feel tired and not in the mood to drive during the busy NYE streets, and that he would drive us anywhere we wanted to go during the week in SD as well. I kept the rental car, but his generosity in insisting several times that I cancel it was very flattering.
I could go on and on but I just wanted to share a few of my experiences with him.
And yes his dogs are being taken care of well by someone close to him in San Diego.
Sherief was at his funeral in Egypt. Why did Nasser go to Egypt? I believe God wanted Sherief to get to know him before his time was up.
