Sagan Lewis Dies; Veteran Actress Was 63 Skip to Content

Sad news this week out of the television world:

Sagan Lewis, a veteran actress best known for her role on the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere, died on Sunday at her home in New York City.

She was 63 years old.

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Lewis was the wife of Emmy-winning television creator Tom Fontana.

She passed away after a six-year long battle with cancer.

The woman behind Dr. Jacqueline Wade on the aforementioned series, Lewis also appear in television movies such as Full Ride and Cocaine: One Man’s Seduction.

In the late 1990s, she signed in for a recurring as role Judge Susan Aandahl on Homicide: Life on the Street, one of the most critically-acclaimed shows of its era.

She also appeared in the final half hour of M*A*S*H as well.

A native of Omaha, Lewis attended the University of California at San Diego, where she earned a Masters of Fine Arts in Acting.

She met her future husband in 1978 when she was auditioning at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He was a writer at the time.

Sagan Lewis image
(NBC via Getty Images)

Lewis became close to Gwyneth Paltrow’s father, Bruce, who created the St. Elsewhere character for her and at whose home she married Lewis.

The couple divorced in 1993, but got remarried in 2015.

She is survived by Tom Fontana; son Jade Scott Lewis, and siblings Robin Schultz, Laurie Rittenbach, Joseph Mickey, John Mickey and James Paul Lewis.

May Sagan Lewis rest in peace.