Celebrities With Pancreatic Cancer

The Grammy winner passed away Oct. 14, 2025, at age 51 after a private battle with pancreatic cancer. The Virginia-born soul singer, whose full name was Michael Eugene Archer, made his debut in 1995 with the album Brown Sugar. He went on to collaborate with notable figures Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and Jay-Z, among others. A multi-instrumentalist, the artist won four Grammys total for both his 2000 release Voodoo and 2014's Black Messiah.

The host of the long-running game show Jeopardy! announced in March 2019 that he had stage IV pancreatic cancer. In an interview with Jane Pauley of CBS, he said that it started with a pain in his stomach that wouldn’t go away. Even though he felt bad, he kept working through his chemo treatments. Trebek passed away from complications of the disease at his home on Nov. 8, 2020.

The music producer, composer, and songwriter, who is the third highest Grammy award winner, passed away from an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in 2024 at the age of 91. Jones, who started his career as a jazz musician, went on to produce Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. He's a composer of over 30 movie scores and is listed as a producer, conductor, arranger, composer, or performer on more than 400 albums. He passed away at his home in Los Angeles after living with the condition for years.

In 2003, doctors diagnosed the larger-than-life CEO of Apple with a rare neuroendocrine tumor. This was not actually pancreatic cancer, but a different type that happened to start in his pancreas. Surgeons tried to remove it, but it came back and spread to his liver. Jobs stepped down as Apple's CEO in August 2011, and he passed away from the disease on Oct. 5 of that year.

The actor, who was perhaps best known for his role as Stanford Blatch in HBO's Sex and the City, passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2021 at the age of 57. Garson was also an actor in theater and films, appearing in more than 300 television shows and 70 movies over a career span of about four decades. He passed away at his home in Los Angeles, California, after a brief, private battle with the disease.

Doctors diagnosed the Supreme Court justice with pancreatic cancer in 2009. Soon after that, surgeons removed her pancreas and spleen. Ginsburg had already had surgery and chemotherapy for colorectal cancer in 1999. She died due to complications of pancreatic cancer on Sept. 18, 2020, and became the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.

A neuroendocrine tumor in the pancreas, like the one that took the life of Steve Jobs, also struck the legendary Queen of Soul. She faced health problems for several years but had kept details about her illness a secret. Franklin’s last performance was for the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Nov. 2, 2017, in New York City. She died on Aug. 26, 2018, at age 76.

Perhaps most notably known for his role as one of the first Black action heroes in Shaft, Roundtree passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2024 at the age of 81. His character John Shaft was considered an iconic role in the Black community in the 1970s. Roundtree went on to act in films and television shows for another four decades. Roundtree was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, and later spoke out about his experience as a man with breast cancer. He lived with pancreatic cancer for about two months before his death.

The wildly popular bearded tenor sang at the world’s greatest opera houses and classical music halls. But he also sang with James Brown, Bono, the Spice Girls, and other pop stars. He had surgery in the summer of 2006, after doctors found a cancerous mass in his pancreas. He passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer on Sept. 6, 2007, at age 71.

The English actor came to fame playing villains: Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Kids the world over know him as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. Rickman died of pancreatic cancer on Jan. 14, 2016, at age 69.

A towering figure in jazz history, John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie helped define the bebop style in the 1940s. He was honored by both fellow musicians and U.S. presidents for his decades of performance. Doctors were treating Gillespie for pancreatic cancer when he died in January 1993 at age 75.

She was one of America’s first female astronauts. And in June 1983, she became the first U.S. woman in space when she flew in the space shuttle Challenger. Age 32 at the time, she was also the youngest U.S. astronaut to go into space. She died of pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012, at age 61, 17 months after her diagnosis.

His breakthrough came in 1983’s The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. After that, he famously played Jennifer Grey’s dance teacher in the 1987 classic Dirty Dancing and Demi Moore’s departed love in Ghost. Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 20 months before dying of the disease in 2009 at age 57.

He’s most famous as Little Joe on the TV series Bonanza, and Charles Ingalls on Little House On the Prairie. Doctors diagnosed him with pancreatic cancer in April 1991. “I think you have to have a sense of humor about everything,” he said at the time. “If you’re going to try to beat something, you’re not going to do it standing in the corner.” Landon died of the disease July 1, 1991. He was 54.

The legendary Hollywood actress got her first big break in 1928 during the silent movie era. She made 80 films over more than 50 years, and won an Oscar for her role in Mildred Pierce. She was battling pancreatic cancer in May 1977 when she died of a heart attack in New York City. She was 69, according to the Los Angeles Times, though her birthdate isn't known for sure. 

Rae's most famous character, Edna Garrett, appeared first on the TV Show Diff'rent Strokes, and then on a spinoff called The Facts of Life that ran for nine seasons. Doctors diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer around 2010 and then bone cancer in 2017. She died at her home in Los Angeles on Aug. 5, 2018, at age 92.