Death of Jill Jacobson: Star Trek: The Next Generation and Who’s the Boss star dies, aged 70

On By Littum

Jill Jacobson, 70, has died after a “long illness”.

The actor, most famous for his role in Star Trek: The next generationhad recently recovered from cancer of the esophagus after suffering with the disease for over two and a half years.

Jacobson died Dec. 8 at Culver West Health Center in Culver City, Calif., according to her close friend and publicist Dan Harary, who told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Beautiful, energetic and positive to the end, she will be deeply missed by numerous relatives, friends and her beloved dogs Benny and Kowalski,” he said.

The star first rose to fame for her role as Erin Jones, a morally questionable character Falcon Crest in 1985. She starred in the show for 21 episodes and eventually left in 1987.

She then continued to perform Star Trek: The Next Generation as Vanessa in the 1989 episode “The Royale” and as Chalan Aroya in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Broken Link” in 1996.

After being diagnosed with cancer, Jacobson continued to volunteer as a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society and received numerous awards for her work.

“What I went through was pretty intense. You can’t function, you just can’t function,” she said at the time.

Jacobson has died aged 70

Jacobson has died aged 70 (Getty)

“And now I’m so grateful, I just want to keep going, I want to help people. It makes me want to help people.”

Her final project, a TV show called Gladlyis currently in production and is set to be released next year, according to TMZ.

Jacobson’s other credits include American sitcoms Who is the boss?, Party down, The new gadgetand House of Usher. According to her IMDB, the star also had some executive producer credits, including on short films Mic Whore and on the 2005 film, The circle.

Jacobson played Vanessa on Star Trek

Jacobson played Vanessa on Star Trek (Paramount pictures)

“Jill’s comedic timing was brilliant,” says Caryn Richman, Jacobson The new gadget said fellow player. “And her enthusiasm and love of life made our time together on set happy.”

Jacobson was born in Texas and was married to Waitress! and Murphy Brown actor Paul Dorman after a ceremony in 2001. The couple shared three children together.