Renauld White, Groundbreaking Black Model and ‘Guiding Light’ Actor, Dies at 80

Renauld White, who starred on the soap opera then known as “The Guiding Light” for two years and broke racial barriers as only the second Black model to appear on the cover of GQ, died on June 26. He’d been in hospice care at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. White was 80 years old.

Fashion designer Jeffrey Banks, a friend of White’s, shared the news with Women’s Wear Daily. More information about the cause of White’s death was not immediately available.

In November 1979, White became the second Black model to appear on the cover of GQ following Urs Althaus’ cover in 1977.