Ron Silver, best known for his roles on The West Wing and the film Reversal of Fortune, has died. The cause was esophageal cancer. He was 62.
"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him this morning," Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, said in a statement to the New York Post. Silver had helped found the group, which supports a range of liberal causes.
Silver, a onetime liberal activist and Actors' Equity Association union leader, later became involved in Republican politics, even speaking at the party's 2004 convention.
With wide-ranging interests beyond acting, Silver, who hosted a public affairs program for Sirius radio, studied Chinese culture and language in graduate school and later spent a year at Yale immersing himself in constitutional law.
In a 1993 interview with The New York Times, Silver described why he tried to use his fame for more than just a good table at a restaurant.
"We have a certain visibility, and power in the society. We're a celebrity-ridden society. Why not use that to try to do a little good?"