{"id":18232,"date":"2026-02-16T09:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=18232"},"modified":"2026-02-14T08:21:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T14:21:35","slug":"dawsons-creek-star-james-van-der-beek-dies-at-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/dawsons-creek-star-james-van-der-beek-dies-at-48\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawson\u2019s Creek star James Van Der Beek dies at 48"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor James Van Der Beek has died. He was 48.<\/p>\n

Van Der Beek died Wednesday morning, Feb. 11, 2026. His family confirmed the death in a statement.<\/p>\n

“He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the statement said. His wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, asked for privacy.<\/p>\n

TV star with a lasting fan base<\/h2>\n

Many fans know him as Dawson Leery in “Dawson’s Creek”. The WB series made him a star in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

He also played a high school quarterback in “Varsity Blues”. The 1999 film remains a well-known sports drama.<\/p>\n

He took on comic roles later. He played a version of himself on “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23”.<\/p>\n

He also guest-starred on shows like “Walker”. For more credits, see his IMDb profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cancer fight and family life<\/h2>\n

Van Der Beek shared in 2024 that he had colorectal cancer. Later reports described it as stage 3.<\/p>\n

He is survived by Kimberly and their six children. They are Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

His brother, Jared Van Der Beek, posted a tribute after the death. Friends and co-workers also shared memories online.<\/p>\n

\"James
James Van Der Beek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to learn more or help<\/h2>\n

Friends have set up a fundraiser to support the family. The GoFundMe page says it will help with bills and education.<\/p>\n

You can find it here: Support for James Van Der Beek\u2019s family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Health experts stress screening for colorectal cancer. The CDC says most people should start screening at 45.<\/p>\n

Read more from the CDC screening guide<\/a> and the American Cancer Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s statement was posted on Instagram<\/a>. More coverage is available from People<\/a> and Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actor James Van Der Beek has died. He was 48. Van Der Beek died Wednesday morning, Feb. 11, 2026. His family confirmed the death in a statement. “He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the statement said. His wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, asked for privacy. TV star with a lasting fan… Continue reading Dawson\u2019s Creek star James Van Der Beek dies at 48<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[13331,13135,9234,13332,13333,5461,772,13329,13136,13134,2623,2443,912,13335,1878,13328,777,13334,3040,778,786,5728,4107,13330],"class_list":["post-18232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-actor-death","tag-beek","tag-blues","tag-celebrity-obituary","tag-colorectal-cancer","tag-creek","tag-crime","tag-dawsons-creek","tag-dawsons","tag-der","tag-dies","tag-gofundme","tag-inforum","tag-instagram-statement","tag-james","tag-james-van-der-beek","tag-pennington-county","tag-stage-3-cancer","tag-star","tag-thief-river-falls","tag-trf-news","tag-van","tag-varsity","tag-varsity-blues","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18619,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18232\/revisions\/18619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}