Susan Saint James Dies: ‘McMillan & Wife’, ‘Kate & Allie’ Actor Was 80

Susan Saint James, the husky-voiced actress who starred in such popular TV series as McMillan & Wife and Kate & Allie, died Monday, October 26, of pancreatic cancer. She was 80.

A rep for Saint James confirmed her death to People.

In a statement, Saint James’ family described her as “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.”

“She never met a stranger,” the family statement continues. “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. Her defining act: weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 28, 2004 plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal. Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.”

The statement concluded, “She brought that same fire and positivity to everything that followed, and never lost it. She is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol, her four children–Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol–her seven grandchildren; her sister, Mary Mercedes Dewey, as well as her beloved service dog, Lola.”