One name missing from the In Memoriam reel at the Emmys over the weekend was that of Aron Eisenberg, the actor best known for appearing on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Eisenberg’s wife, Malissa Longo, announced on Saturday night that he had died shortly after being admitted to the hospital for unspecified reasons. (Eisenberg was born with one kidney and had his second transplant in 2015.) He was 50 years old at the time of his death.
Also a professional photographer, Eisenberg played Nog, a member of the money-obsessed Ferengi who became the first of his kind to join Starfleet, for all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine. Though he started the series as a relatively minor character, Nog became more prominent in later seasons, including in the standout episode “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” in which he grapples with PTSD following a war injury. Eisenberg additionally guest-starred on Star Trek: Voyager and appeared in the star-studded fan film Renegades.
Though Eisenberg’s death escaped the notice of the Emmys, it was deeply felt in the Star Trek community. Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr wrote that Eisenberg was “an incredibly positive human being” who would “want us to move forward in strength, solidarity and mutual support.” Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake Sisko on Deep Space Nine, often shared scenes with Eisenberg, and more recently the two were co-hosts of the podcast The 7th Rule. On Twitter, the team behind the podcast said goodbye, fittingly, with a Trek reference, writing that “The Divine Treasury has a new Grand Nagus.”
But Eisenberg’s Deep Space Nine colleagues were not the only ones to mourn his passing. The nature of the franchise and the convention circuits mean that there’s an unusual level of camaraderie across the different Star Trek shows, and actors from every iteration took to social media to pay their respects.
