NFL
O.J. Simpson dies at 76: What was the cause of death of the former football star accused of murder?
The former NFL star’s family posted a brief message on his X profile confirming his death, ‘succumbing to his battle against cancer’.
In a brief post on the former NFL star’s X (Twitter) account, the Simpson family confirmed that the 76-year-old who came to fame as an football player primarily with the Buffalo Bills, passed away on 10 April with the post confirming that cancer (prostate) was the cause of death.
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On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.
-The Simpson Family
Despite being a one-time popular figure with the American public starring in a number of high profile commercials and the successful Naked Gun movie, the San Francisco born Simpson’s professional success was overshadowed by his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
Simpson avoided a prison sentence when he was found not guilty in the 1994 stabbing deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. Simpson later served nine years in a Nevada prison after being convicted in 2008 on 12 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel.
The Goldman and Brown families subsequently pursued a wrongful death lawsuit against Simpson in civil court. In 1997, a predominately white jury in Santa Monica, California, found Simpson liable for the two deaths and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages.
“We finally have justice for Ron and Nicole,” Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman’s father, said after the verdict.
Bills NFL hero
Simpson joined the Buffalo franchise in 1968 and despite a slow start with the NFL team, slowly became of the best players in the league and was famous for his ball carrying skills. He was traded to the San Francisco 49ers and retired from the game in 1979.