‘Survivor’ Alum Kim Johnson Dead at 79

Kim Johnson, the retired elementary school teacher who was the runner-up on Survivor: Africa in 2002, has died. Johnson passed away on Tuesday, July 23 following a battle with cancer, her three children — Wendy, Kerry and Teddy — confirmed to PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly.

“Our mom leaves a legacy of strength, resilience, kindness and generosity. She wore her rose colorized glasses right up until the end,” they said in a statement to the outlets. “She was the coolest mom and grandmother in the world. We will miss her forever.”

Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, according to her Survivor bio, Johnson was 56 when she competed on the third season of Survivor, titled Survivor: Africa, in 2001. Considered to be one of the most dangerous seasons of the hit CBS competition show, the season forced tribes to take shifts keeping watch at night due to the threat of lions. Johnson, a retired elementary school teacher from Oyster Bay, New York, was on the Boran tribe. Although she thought she would be the first person eliminated, Johnson made it all the way to the final four, and then scored victories in two Immunity Challenges. At the age of 56 at the time of filming, she remains not only the oldest contestant to win a final immunity challenge but also the oldest female finalist in the CBS reality show’s 46-season history. She finished second on Survivor: Africa behind Ethan Zohn, who paid tribute to her on social media following her passing.

“Rest in peace Kim Johnson. It was a blessing to call you my friend and a privilege to experience the final tribal council with you,” Zohn captioned a video montage of clips of Johnson competing in their season. “I will forever have that planters punch in your honor!”

Survivor host Jeff Probst also paid his respects, calling Johnson “a pioneer” in an Instagram tribute. Nothing that Johnson “still holds the record for the oldest woman to ever win an immunity challenge, earned her place in the final two and even received votes to win the game,” Probst recalled “how inspiring she was to other ‘older’ people because she showed that age was merely a number and that if you were willing to risk failing you might just amaze yourself.”

“She definitely left her mark on the game and on all of us who were lucky enough to work on that season and tell her story,” Probst concluded his post, which was signed, “Jeff Probst and the entire Survivor [and] CBS team.”

Johnson’s passing marks the latest to rock the Survivor franchise and comes just three months after Sonja Christopher, the very first person who was ever voted off of the American Survivor franchise, passed away at the age of 87. According to The Wrap, of the 697 contestants who have competed on Survivor since the show’s 2000 premiere, 16 have now died – Johnson, Christopher, Angie Jakusz, Ashley Massaro, B.B. Andersen, Caleb Bankston, Clay Jordan, Cliff Robinson, Dan Kay, Dan Lembo, Jenn Lyon, Keith Nale, Ralph Kiser, Roger Sexton, Rudy Boesch and Sunday Burquest.