Authorities have confirmed the official cause of death for Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died Sunday in Costa Rica while swimming at Playa Grande in Cahuita, a village in the province of Limón. Warner, who famously played Theodore Huxtable on “ The Cosby Show ,” was 54.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner will forever be associated with two fictional characters: Theo Huxtable and Gordon Gartrell. The first made Warner familiar to us. The second only exists by reputation.