David Mills, a former journalist and Emmy-winning television writer best known for his work on “NYPD Blue” and “The Wire,” has died. He was 48.

Mills died Tuesday of an apparent brain aneurysm in New Orleans, where he had been working on the upcoming HBO series “Treme,” the network said Wednesday in a statement.

According to a production release, Mills died at a hospital after he collapsed on the set of the post-Hurricane Katrina drama during filming of a scene at Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter.

“He was an enormous talent,” David Simon, a friend and co-executive producer with Mills on “Treme,” said in a statement. “He loved words and he loved an argument — but not in any angry or mean-spirited way. He loved to argue ideas. He delighted in it, and he was confident that something smarter and deeper always came from a good argument.”

“Treme,” which Mills also co-wrote, is due to premiere April 11.

Mills, who had been living in Glendale, Calif., is survived by two sisters, Blanche Carroll of Peoria, Ariz., and Gloria Johnson of Charlotte, N.C.; and a brother, Franklin Mills, of Washington.