Fred Goldman on O.J. Simpson’s Death: ‘The Only Thing That Is Important Today Are the Victims’

Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman, says his thoughts are with his son and Nicole Brown Simpson following the news of O.J. Simpson’s death at the age of 76. Simpson was accused and later acquitted of killing Goldman and Brown Simpson in 1994. He was found liable, however, in a wrongful death civil suit brought by Goldman’s family in 1997.

“The only thing I have to say is that today is just a further reminder of how long we have missed my son, how long he’s been gone, and the only thing that is important today are the victims,” Goldman tells Rolling Stone. “That’s it. I have nothing else to say.”

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Brown Simpson and Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home on June 12, 1994. The murders led to one of the most infamous court cases in American history, with Simpson charged with the two murders. The trial was a media circus that spanned 10 months in 1995 and ultimately ended with Simpson’s acquittal.

Afterward, Goldman’s family took civil action against Simpson, filing a wrongful death lawsuit against him. In 1997, a jury found Simpson liable for Goldman and Brown Simpson’s deaths, and he was ordered to pay the Goldman family $33.5 million in damages.

In 2021, Goldman said he was surprised that Simpson told the sports news outlet The Athletic that a serious coronavirus infection he contracted left him contemplating his own death for the first time. “Honestly, the only thing that strikes a chord with me is that he didn’t think about death before. I think about his death all the time. I can think of no one better suited to be underground,” Goldman told the New York Daily News.

Goldman, 83, relentlessly pursued Simpson after the 1997 civil verdict, never abandoning his mission to recover his $33.5 million award. He won the publishing rights to Simpson’s bizarre book If I Did It in 2007 and doggedly pushed for the seizures of Simpson’s prized trophies, footballs, and other memorabilia.

Simpson’s children announced his death, saying their father died April 10 after a private battle with cancer. “He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”

Few details about his diagnosis have been released. Earlier this year, a television station in Las Vegas, where Simpson had been living, reported that he was undergoing treatment for cancer, and while Simpson neither confirmed nor denied the reports, he did rebuff rumors that he was in hospice care. Just before the Super Bowl, he posted a video on social media saying his health was good, adding, “I mean, obviously, I’m dealing with some issues, but I think I’m just about over it.”

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