Organizers of a GoFundMe campaign to support it James Van Der BeekThe family provided an update.
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing James and his beautiful family,” read the update shared to “Friends of the Van Der Beek Family” on Friday, February 13. “Your kindness means more than we can say. In the midst of deep grief, your support has been a light. It reminds us that love is real, that community is strong, and continues to unite the spirit of people and James.”
Van Der Beek died on Wednesday, February 11, at the age of 48, following a battle with stage III colon cancer.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith and grace,” the social media statement read. “There is much we can discuss about his wishes, love for humanity and the sanctity of time. Those days will come. For now we ask that we be alone and in peace as we mourn our loving husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
James is survived by his wife of almost 16 years, Kimberly Van Der Beekand their six children. A group of friends subsequently launched a GoFundMe campaign to pay James’ medical bills and allow his family to “stay in their house.”
“Right now, the family is taking time to mourn and be together,” added Friday’s update. “We ask the media and the public to give them space and privacy as they go through this painful time. Your respect and understanding will give them a chance to recover.”
The statement also asked fans to keep Kimberly, 44, and James’ loved ones “in your thoughts and prayers.”
“Thank you for honoring his life with compassion, generosity and love,” the statement concluded.
The fundraiser has since raised more than $2 million to support Kimberly and the children, including a $25,000 donation from Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw. Spielberg was Dawson Leery’s favorite filmmaker Dawson’s Creek. (James is cast as a respected young, up-and-coming filmmaker, on and on Dawson’s Creek from 1998 to 2003.)
James Van Der Beek’s best friend describes his family’s “urgent” need for money after his death. “I’m so happy and thankful that so many people feel moved in their hearts by the way those close to us feel,” designer Erin Fetherston told ExtraTV on Thursday, February 12, as the actor’s family suggested more. […]
“Dawson’s bedroom was Spielberg’s temple, so I had to write him a letter because he has the rights to all that stuff,” the show’s creator. Kevin Williamson he told Entertainment Weekly in 2018. “I was like, ‘Please, Mr. Spielberg, you don’t know me, but I was a kid. I had a bedroom. I had all your posters in my room. Can I introduce Dawson the way he really was?’ It was really interesting, he replied and wrote a lovely reply. “
Williamson, 60, explained that Spielberg agreed to the request, as long as Dawson’s Creek he did not mention Spielberg’s wife and children.
“‘Just leave it to me, and you can do whatever you want,'” Williamson recalled in the book. I was like, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.'”
James focused Dawson’s Creek aside Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams again Busy Phillippsall attending a live pilot reading in 2025 aimed at supporting James’ cancer fight. Spielberg, for his part, sent a special video message.
“Dawson, you made it,” Spielberg said in recorded footage of the New York City event. “Maybe one day, I’ll have Dawson’s wardrobe.”
James was unable to attend the meeting due to a stomach bug.
