Samuel Monroe Jr. died Thursday August 27 at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 52 years old. His mother Joyce Patton confirmed his death on Facebook. "I want to thank all of my Facebook family and friends new and old for praying for Samuel Monroe Jr., my son. But today God called him home. Please honor my final request to pray for the family especially his 3 children."
Monroe spent four months fighting for his life after being hospitalized in April with meningitis, MRSA pneumonia and complications that required dialysis.
His family revealed in April that the meningitis had gone untreated for approximately eight months, first contracted while he was filming in Las Vegas, because of repeated misdiagnoses at several hospitals.
By the time he was properly diagnosed it had spread to his brain and spine. He suffered multiple seizures in recent weeks and doctors had warned his family he might spend the rest of his life in a vegetative state.
His wife Shawna Stewart, his mother and three children never stopped fighting for him.
Monroe built his career in the 1990s playing memorable supporting roles in films that defined Black cinema, Menace II Society in 1993, Tales from the Hood in 1995, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Set It Off in 1996 and The Players Club in 1998. He is survived by his wife, his mother and his three children.