Olsen was a star defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams football team, who went on to a television acting career. He played Jonathan Garvey on the series Little House on the Prairie and was the title character of Father Murphy. He also appeared on Fathers and Sons and Aaron’s Way, and filled the role of sportscaster at both CBS and NBC.
Online celebrity news magazine TMZ broke the news in December that Olsen and his family had filed a lawsuit against several companies, including NBC Studios, NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, claiming they were responsible for exposing him to asbestos, which causes mesothelioma. Also named in the suit are Sherwin Williams and Lennox Industries, whose products Olsen says he was exposed to during jobs in his youth.
Read his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
On December 8, 2009, his alma mater, Utah State University, where he was selected twice as an NCAA All-American, among other honors, announced it would name its football field after him – Merlin Olsen Field. How truly sad that he will never see a team take the field that now bears his name. Watch the tribute video created by the university at the announcement:
What a sad loss of a man who truly seemed to care genuinely for others, for his family and his community. He will be genuinely missed.
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Tags: 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Aaron's Way, asbestos, CBS, Father Murphy, Little House on the Prairie, Los Angeles, Merlin Olsen, Merlin Olsen Field, mesothelioma, NBC, NBC Studios, NBC Universal, TMZ, Utah, Utah State UniversityThis entry was postedon Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 12:40 pmand is filed under Events, News, People.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.DiggFacebookMySpaceDel.icio.usStumbleUpon --
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