Susan Saint James’ Son Teddy Died in a Plane Crash 20 Years Before Her Death

Susan Saint James recently died at 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer — and her family recalled her selflessness following the death of her 14-year-old son, Teddy, in a 2004 plane crash.

In a statement shared with People, the McMillan & Wife and Kate & Allie actress’ family members detailed a “defining act” related to the tragic loss.

“Weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the November 28, 2004 plane crash, she delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal,” they wrote. “Even in the deepest grief of her life, she put everyone else first.”

Saint James’s family added, “Days after the crash, she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.”

On that fateful day, Teddy was traveling in a chartered jet with his father, Dick Ebersol, and older brother Charlie Ebersol, then 21, when the aircraft crashed during takeoff in Colorado. Teddy died in the crash alongside the pilot and a flight attendant — however, both Dick and Charlie, as well as the co-pilot, survived.

“He not only got me off of the plane … he ran back into the plane, which had 3- or 4-foot flames all around it, to look for his brother one more time,” Dick said during a 2006 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Meanwhile, an emotional Saint James confessed on Oprah of her grief, “Here’s the bad part … I’ve never touched his clothes, I’ve never been able to move his things.”

Charlie, now 43, also discussed the plane crash during a 2013 appearance on Katie Couric‘s talk show Katie.

“My resilience, I think, came from the fact that my mom, the day it happened, said to us, ‘You can be sad. But you can’t be mad-sad. You can’t blame anybody,” Charlie shared. “You have to just see the sadness for what it is, and kind of move through it.’ And that was a huge thing for us. It allowed us to kind of own it, and then move through it, and celebrate my little brother.”

Saint James was best known for playing Kate McArdle in Kate & Allie alongside Jane Curtin‘s Allie Lowell. The series aired for six seasons from 1984 to 1989. She also portrayed Sally McMillan opposite Rock Hudson‘s Stewart McMillan in McMillan & Wife, which ran for six seasons from 1971 to 1977.

The actress is survived by Dick; four children, Charlie, Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, and Willie Ebersol; and seven grandchildren.