Susan Saint James has died at 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
The ‘Kate & Allie’ and ‘McMillan & Wife’ star passed away on Monday, her family confirmed on Tuesday. She was 80.
Her family released a statement through a representative remembering the actress as a woman who prioritized people over possessions. They described her as someone who was “generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up.”
“She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people,” the family wrote in their statement.
Saint James is survived by her husband, former NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, four children, seven grandchildren, her sister, and her service dog Lola. Her children are Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol, and Willie Ebersol.
The family continued their tribute by highlighting her gift for connection with strangers. “She never met a stranger,” they wrote. “Every person she met became the most important person in the room at that moment, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, who usually walked away knowing her entire life story.”
“She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it,” the statement concluded.
Saint James rose to fame in the 1970s starring opposite Rock Hudson in the NBC mystery series ‘McMillan & Wife,’ playing Sally McMillan, the crime-solving spouse of a San Francisco police commissioner. The show ran from 1971 to 1976 and established her as a television leading lady.
She achieved her greatest commercial success in the 1980s alongside Jane Curtin in ‘Kate & Allie,’ the CBS sitcom about two divorced women raising their children together in New York City. The series ran for six seasons from 1984 to 1989 and earned Saint James an Emmy nomination.
Her marriage to Ebersol, which began in 1981, endured more than four decades. The couple faced tragedy in 2004 when their 14-year-old son Teddy died in a plane crash that also seriously injured Ebersol and their son Charlie.
Beyond acting, Saint James maintained involvement in charitable and community work throughout her life. Her family emphasized that she carried her warmth and enthusiasm into every endeavor, never losing the spark that defined her interactions with others.