Susan Saint James, the Emmy-winning star of 'McMillan & Wife' and 'Kate & Allie,' died Monday at 80 after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, but this hour the story fitness readers care about is her half-century in the sporting world.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Special Olympics issued a statement praising her as an athlete champion, while the family's own statement focused on generosity — 'generous with her time and energy, which she valued more than money,' and 'instinctively drawn to whoever needed lifting up.'

Most obituaries lead with Rock Hudson and Jane Curtin; the surprising angle for endurance and adaptive-sport fans is that Saint James backed the Special Olympics since an early iteration of the California Games in 1972, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles Times also reports she served as a board member and campaign co-chair for Special Olympics Connecticut and founded an annual poker-tournament fundraiser.

She tied her Hollywood success directly to that work, saying at her 2008 Walk of Fame ceremony that coupling her career with Special Olympics work contributed to her success and happiness.

The organization's tribute is concrete, not perfunctory.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Special Olympics Connecticut's Susan Saint James Leadership Award honors people who 'embody her remarkable spirit of leadership, generosity, and dedication to our mission,' and the organization thanked her as 'an extraordinary champion of our athletes.'

The Hollywood Reporter separately notes she was an active volunteer and board-of-directors member.

The Los Angeles Times reports she spoke publicly about grief for years afterward, telling a 2009 panel, 'They can take his body, but I own that boy and I love that boy.'

Yahoo, citing People, reports her charity work also reached the Telluride Foundation and Assistance Dogs of Hawaii, and that she befriended Sandy Hook mother Lynn McDonnell, counseling grieving parents for more than two decades.

For the adaptive-fitness community, the stakes are continuity. Special Olympics stated, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, that she 'believed deeply in the power of inclusion' and that her legacy will 'live on through the lives you touched and the inclusive future you helped build.'

Saint James herself framed charity as inseparable from stardom, saying at her Walk of Fame ceremony that she became a movie star 'through the good works of a lot of wonderful people' who created a loving environment around her — a template for athlete-advocates watching how a career is remembered.