Prostate cancer kills OJ Simpson
Leaves behind tainted legacy, alleged $100M debt
OJ Simpson, who juicedup football then TV during his “Trial of the Century,” died from prostate cancer at 76, his family announced.
He passed still owing Ron Goldman’s family more than $100 million, according to the Daily Mail, quoting a family attorney.
Simpson was acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in 1994 in an LA trial that was a worldwide sensation. A separate civil trial jury found OJ liable in 1997 for the deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million to family members of Brown and Goldman.
Since then, interest has compounded.
“We have to start over here,” debt collection attorney David Cook told the Daily Mail. “We’re going to work on that. There might be something out there. We’ve had this problem for a long long time. It could be in a trust, it could be probate. It could be all gone.”
Fred Goldman, 83, said Simpson’s death just brought him more pain.
“The only thing that I have to say today is that this is a further reminder of the loss of my son Ron. It is a further reminder of my son’s murder and a reminder about the many years we have missed Ron,” he was quoted as saying.
Simpson’s family tweeted yesterday that OJ had died after battling cancer.
The post on X, formerly Twitter, read: “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”
Simpson won the Heisman Trophy, college football’s top honor, in 1968 while playing for USC and was the first pick in the NFL draft a few months later.
He quickly became a star running back for the Buffalo Bills mesmerizing fans with his “Electric Company” offensive line. He was the first NFL player to surpass 2,000 rushing yards in a season, with 2,003. He retired from the NFL in 1979.
But he didn’t drop out of sight.
He was an instant hit on TV and in the movies, but it was his trial that vaulted him into infamy. The verdict is still debated today.
“I don’t think most of America believes I did it,” Simpson told The New York Times in 1995, a week after a jury determined he did not kill Brown and Goldman. “I’ve gotten thousands of letters and telegrams from people supporting me.”
He had two sons, Jason and Aaren, with his first wife; one of those boys, Aaren, drowned as a toddler in a swimming pool accident in 1979, the same year he and Whitley divorced. Simpson and Brown were married in 1985. They had two children, Justin and Sydney, and divorced in 1992. Two years later, Nicole Brown Simpson was found murdered.
“We don’t need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives,” he said 25 years after the double slayings. “The subject of the moment is the subject I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to what we call the ‘no negative zone.’ We focus on the positives.”