Robert Redford is mourning following the death of his son, James Redford, at the age of 58. Just hours after the documentary filmmaker’s wife confirmed that he had died Friday, the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid actor released a statement addressing his heartbreaking loss.
Shared to PEOPLE via his representative, Cindi Berger, Redford is in “mourning with his family during this difficult time.” The statement added that “the grief is immeasurable with the loss of a child,” and remembered James as “a loving son, husband and father” whose legacy will live on “through his children, art, filmmaking and devoted passion to conservation and the environment.” Berger, on Redford’s behalf, also asked “for privacy” as he and his family continue to grieve their loss.
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James was Redford’s third child with his ex-wife Lola Van Wagenen. Together, the couple shared four children – Scott, who died just two months after his birth in 1959 from sudden infant death syndrome; daughter Shauna, 59; James; and Amy, who turns 50 on Thursday.
According to James’ wife, Kyle Redford, who announced the tragic news Friday on Twitter, James passed away at his home in Marin County, California. She later revealed to The Salt Lake Tribune that James had died from bile-duct cancer in his liver. According to Kyle, James previously had a liver transplant in the early 1990s, and his liver disease returned two years ago. While he was awaiting a liver transplant, doctors, in November of 2019, discovered that James had cancer.
“Jamie died today. We’re heartbroken,” Kyle wrote when announcing his death. “He lived a beautiful, impactful life & was loved by many. He will be deeply missed. As his wife of 32 [years], I’m most grateful for the two spectacular children we raised together. I don’t know what we would’ve done [without] them over the past 2 [years].”
After earning a degree in film and creative writing at the University of Colorado, James first broke into movies as a screenwriter, producing his first documentary The Kindness of Strangers, which was released in 1999. James has worked on and directed a number of documentary films over the years including Toxic Hot Seat, Paper Tigers, and The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia. According to his wife, he was finishing work on Where The Past Begins, a new PBS documentary on author Amy Tan. James and Kyle married in June 1988 after meeting at the University of Colorado. They share two children, Dylan and Lena.
