His brother Stanley reported his cause of death as heart & kidney failure. The family was, yet again, advised to remain silent about his HIV diagnosis. It was not until 2002 that his wife Janet revealed the full story in her autobiography. Many of his fans are still unaware.

I did not know this until you just said it. What an encapsulation of that time.

Janet says they waited until after most of the treating physicians who advised them not to disclose Asimov's status had died, and couldn't be subject to criticism. A sad story in the history of HIV/AIDS and our own intolerance to disease.