Samuel Monroe Jr., a veteran Hollywood character actor and star of Menace II Society, has died. He was 52.
“I want to thank all of my facebook family and friends new and old for praying for Samuel Monroe Jr., my son. But today God called him home. Please honor my final request to pray for the family, especially his 3 children,” Joyce Patton, Monroe’s mother, said in a Facebook post early on Thursday morning.
Tayonna Stewart, daughter of Shawna Stewart, Monroe’s partner, in a Go Fund Me page that asked for donations to help offset steep medical care costs mentioned the actor had been battling severe meningitis and had been on life support for months as he received round-the-clock care.
That led to mounting health complications for Monroe Jr., including serious pneumonia due to a lung infection. “The emotional and financial strain on his family has been immense, over the last nine months with Samuel being in multiple hospitals and two rehabilitation centers,” the fundraising page stated.
In the days before his death, Patton filed for court-directed conservatorship to allow her to make final decisions around his life, according to TMZ. Professor Rel Dowdell, director of film studies at Hampton University, paid tribute to the veteran actor for standout roles in Black cinema classics.
