Lou Myers, the actor who is best known for playing “Mr. Vernon Gaines” on the 90’s sitcom, A Different World, passed away with very little mainstream media coverage, although he was an actor who was a valued facet of mainstream entertainment and that’s why we want to shine a spotlight on this brotha’s life and passing. He died on Feb. 19, 2013 at Charleston, N.C. Medical Center in West Virginia after experiencing a heart-related emergency and falling into a coma. Previously he was hospitalized in December of 2012 for pneumonia.
A Different World aired from 1987 to 1993 and Meyers was also known for his roles on The Wedding Planner, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Tin Cup, All About the Andersons, NYPD Blue, E.R., The Cosby Show, and Touched by an Angel.
He was survived by his son and his mother.
Myers also was into giving back and he had a nonprofit organization called Global Business Incubation Inc. which states that it’s purpose is to ‘provide start-up companies with the necessary support services and funding to launch, sustain, and grow.’ According to one of the people associated with the organization, Meyers wasn’t just an actor. What was news to us, and is probably news to many others, is that he was a singer who started singing jazz and blues with the touring company of “Negro Music in Vogue.”
Myers also appeared on Broadway in plays such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof African American Style and Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple.
His Cabaret show also made a lot of noise in Berlin, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles.
Myers was chairman of Global Business Incubation that helps urban small businesses and chairman of the Lou Myers Scenario Motion Picture Institute/Theatre.
