SNL Signs Off With a Quiet Goodbye to Susan Saint James

NBC's sketch show ran the memorial card just before the goodnights on this weekend's episode, honoring a woman who stayed in the SNL orbit for decades. Saint James hosted the show twice, first in 1981 and again in 1983, and turned up in several episodes and specials along the way.

That first hosting gig changed her life off camera. She met SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol while guest-hosting in 1981, and the two married the same year. They shared three sons and stayed together until her death.

A rep for the actress announced last month that she died at 80 of pancreatic cancer on Oct. 26.

Her family's statement painted a portrait of relentless warmth. They described her as generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money, and instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up. She taught her children to pause, be kind and look out for other people, they said, adding that every person she met, from a fellow board member to the clerk at the shoe store, became the most important person in the room.

Grief didn't slow her. Weeks after losing her youngest son, Teddy, in the Nov. 28, 2004 plane crash, Saint James delivered his eulogy as a note to each of her other children and her husband, giving them words to heal. Days after the crash she sat with Tim Russert to thank the people who had reached out and to tell them the family was okay.

She is survived by her husband, Dick Ebersol, her four children — Sunshine Lucas, Harmony Lucas, Charlie Ebersol and Willie Ebersol — seven grandchildren, her sister Mary Mercedes Dewey, and her service dog, Lola.