David St. John passes away at age 56

It's a sad day for fans of popular reality TV series America's Next Top Model and I Am Jazz.

An executive producer on the projects, David St. John, has passed away at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer.

St. John passed away in December at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle after battling pancreatic cancer.

David St. John was the executive producer of the TLC series I Am Jazz for its entire run that lasted from 2015 until 2020.

The series followed the journey of transgender teen Jazz Jennings and won a GLAAD Media Award.

St. John's woke projects did not stop there.

In 2021 he produced The Ts Madison Experience, a series that chronicled the career of a trans talk show host Ts Madison.

St. John began his career in popular media as an assistant at MTV.

He would move up quickly in the company, moving up to story producer on the 2002 series Taildaters. By 2007 he was a supervising producer on America's Next Top Model and was listed as a co-executive producer on more than 100 episodes of the competition series hosted by Tyra Banks.

His final project was Jay & Pamela, which follows an engaged couple born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta.

"To be in David St. John’s orbit meant that you were witness to an astonishingly bright light… all the time," Drew Tappon, Head of Unscripted Development, Programming & Specials at OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, said. "He made everything better. And he made YOU feel better. Simply put, he just made us all better."

The family of Jazz Jennings released a statement after David St. John's passing:

"David was more than just the executive producer of I Am Jazz—he was family, and we loved him deeply. In our most challenging moments, he lifted our spirits with his warmth, reassured us that everything would be okay, and gave us the strength to share our family’s journey. His kindness, infectious laughter, and unwavering belief in our story will forever be woven into the heart and legacy of I Am Jazz and remain a cherished part of our lives."