Patrick Stewart, the English actor best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died Wednesday at age 86, according to a statement from his representatives. The statement said he died at his home in Los Angeles, with his wife Sunny at his side, after a brief journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia.
The family asked that memorial contributions go to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund and the Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources, instead of flowers.
Ars Technica staff shared personal remembrances of Stewart. Founder and editor-in-chief Ken Fisher recalled bumping into Stewart outside a Midtown Manhattan restaurant, where Stewart responded graciously to Fisher's pirate-voiced greeting.
Stewart's acting career began in 1959 with a role in Treasure Island for the Lincoln Repertory Company, according to the article. He later worked in British theater and television before Star Trek: The Next Generation cast him as Picard. Ian McKellen, who co-starred with Stewart in the X-Men films, said in an Instagram post that he had urged Stewart to consider the risk of leaving his stage career in the UK for Hollywood. Stewart told The Independent in 2003: "For huge numbers of people, I will always be Jean-Luc Picard, and that's fine. I really believe we created an admirable individual."