Eddie Mekka, the second star of the long-running comedy show “Laverne & Shirley,” has died at the age of 69.
Mekka’s death was announced by a long-time friend and manager in a tweet Sunday evening. His death comes nine months after co-star Cindy Williams died at the age of 59.
In the tweet, the friend wrote, “Sad to report the passing of Eddie Mekka. A wonderful artist and a good man. Rest in peace, Eddie.”
Mekka is remembered for playing Phil Stacey, a savvy interior designer who is a heterosexual but is married to a “bisexual” woman. The couple helps in the upkeep of Laverne’s apartment.
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“I can stand outside Laverne & Shirley, apartment three in the Laverne & Shirley building, and watch passersby walk by and look up and see my head in their window,” Mekka said at the 2014 anniversary of the show at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery. “I didn’t have a fear of death. People say, ‘Wow. You live on this side of LA,’ but I just love it.”
The series ran from 1976 to 1982 on ABC.
Eddie Mekka’s Twitter bio described him as a “Man in various stages of life; before and after Laverne & Shirley.”
He was the second star of “Laverne & Shirley” to die at age 69. Co-star Cindy Williams died at the age of 59 in November 2017.
The first to pass away was Anthony Michael Hall, who was 29 years old when he died in 1978.