Ron Silver dies of cancer at 62

Actor and political activist Ron Silver, died Sunday after a two-year battle with esophageal cancer, according to a colleague. “Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning,” said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped found. Silver’s many roles included in TV hospital drama “Chicago Hope, playing political consultant Bruno Gianelli in “The West Wing,”  and attorney Alan Dershowitz in the movie “Reversal of Fortune. He also won a Tony Award as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood producer in David Mamet’s “Speed-the-Plow.”

Silver’s politics did an about face, from working for the Democratic Party and its candidates for most of his life to becoming a supporter of many Republican candidates and causes, with the shift occurring after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was quoted as saying the terrorist attacks and the Democratic Party’s policies regarding terrorism had persuaded him to become a political independent.

He backed then-President George W. Bush for a second term in 2004, and he spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York.

One of Silver’s final television appearances was on CNN’s “Larry King Live” last October, when he was part of panel discussing Sen. John McCain’s campaign against then-candidate Barack Obama.

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