Ron Cephas Jones’ Daughter Jasmine and Her Mother Kim Pay Tribute to Their ‘Beloved’ After His Death at 66

As Ron Cephas Jones’ family grieves his death, his daughter Jasmine Cephas Jones and her mother Kim Lesley have each shared images close to their hearts in memory of the admired actor.

Jasmine, 34, posted a simple black-and-white photo with her father Sunday morning on her Instagram Story. In the image, the former Hamilton star and Emmy winner rests her head on her father’s shoulder and looks up toward him.

Lesley followed with her own memorial on Monday. The vibrant image shows her walking with the late This Is Us star, who is joyously laughing with his right arm wrapped around her as she smiles warmly. “Beloved Ron,” she wrote on top of the photo on her Instagram Story, adding an orange heart emoji and echoing her pet name for him from a birthday tribute she shared for him on Instagram earlier this year.

Sterling K. Brown, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz and More Pay Tribute to Ron Cephas Jones After His Death

Credit: Kim Lesley/Instagram

PEOPLE confirmed Saturday that Ron died at age 66 due to a long-standing pulmonary issue.

“Throughout the course of his career, his warmth, beauty, generosity, kindness and heart were felt by anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him,” a representative for the actor said in a statement. “He began his career at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and his love for the stage was present throughout his entire career, including his recent Tony nominated and Drama Desk Award winning performance for his role in Clyde’s on Broadway.”

Gary Gershoff/WireImage

When her dad appeared in Clyde’s on Broadway in 2021, Jasmine encouraged her Instagram followers to go see the show, captioning a photo of her dad: “I wept the whole entire time. Go see @clydesbroadway.”

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Jasmine followed in her dad’s footsteps to become an actress and has starred in Blindspotting, Girls and Hamilton on Broadway. And like her mom, British singer Kim Lesley, Jasmine released an EP titled Blue Bird.

“I grew up around a lot of creatives and in the theater world because of my dad and my mother. (My father is an actor, and my mother is a jazz singer.)” Jasmine told Who What Wear in 2021. “So I was constantly around creative energy and ended up attending performing art schools in New York, and that’s where I got the bug for performing. I went to college for local performance and then went to acting school. It all just naturally happened because of my environment.”

Jasmine Cephas Jones and Ron Cephas Jones in Los Angeles in 2021.

Michael Kovac/Getty Images

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The Emmy winner said that watching her parents’ careers prepped her for the challenges of Hollywood. “Both of my parents are artists, so I knew how hard it was,” she told W in 2021. “I didn’t have glass over my eyes.” 

Jasmine told ELLE she fell in love with theater as a kid because her dad often brought her to shows.

“My dad brought me to the theater and opened my eyes at a very young age,” she said. “The creative world was such a part of my world as a kid, and it was really just a matter of time. I also saw the beauty in it and the struggle of it as well. I ended up growing such a love of performance art that I didn’t want to do anything else, and I think a lot of it has to do with them.”

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Jasmine said she saw “the joy and the light” that performing brought her parents and “it rubbed off on me.”She continued, “I went on that journey and found own way and my own light and how I wanted to interpret that for myself.”

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Source: HIS Education