Overview

• Her family announced that she died peacefully on August 11 after a prolonged battle with cancer.
• Haywood Nelson paid tribute on Instagram, remembering her as a “brilliant, loving and pragmatic warrior.”
• She rose to prominence as Deadra “Dee” Thomas on ABC’s What’s Happening!! in the late 1970s.
• After leaving acting, she earned a veterinary degree at Tuskegee University and devoted her career to animal welfare.
• A severe 1980s car accident in Malibu left her in a coma and led to later emergency brain surgery, experiences she reflected on in her 2011 memoir.