Danielle Spencer, who played the precocious youngster Dee Thomas on the 1970s ABC sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died. She was 60. Spencer died Monday in a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, her What’s Happening!! co-star Haywood Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter .

The former child actress died on Monday, August 11, after a long battle with cancer. Her publicist told The New York Times that the cause of Spencer’s death was gastric cancer and cardiac arrest. Danielle’s castmate from the popular ‘70s sitcom, Haywood Nelson, also announced the news of her demise on Instagram. He wrote:

She played a witty teenager on one of the first American television shows that centered on young Black people.