The Tragic End of a Former Lansing Deejay and MSU Spartan

He was a former Lansing radio deejay as well as a member of MSU’s Spartan football team. He later became one of Hollywood’s sex symbols and was already on the cusp of being a major celebrity..... then he abruptly died.

Jon_Erik Hexum was born in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1957, graduated high school in 1976, attended Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and soon transferred to Michigan State University.

While in East Lansing, Hexum worked as a radio deejay at WVIC-FM on Mount Hope Road from 1978-1980. He was obviously too good looking for radio – and he is fondly remembered by those who worked with him (especially the office girls). Hexum was also a backup football player for the Spartans in 1978 and acted in local plays. He graduated from MSU with a BA in political philosophy.

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After graduation, he moved to New York in 1980 to pursue his acting career. While being employed as an apartment cleaner, he met John Travolta's manager, Bob LeMond, who urged him to relocate to Los Angeles in September 1981.

In 1982, Hexum snagged the lead role in the NBC TV series Voyagers! as Phineas Bogg, a time traveler.

He co-starred with Joan Collins in the 1983 TV film Making of a Male Model. It was a huge ratings hit, propelling Hexum into the ‘sex symbol’ category. Remarking about the film afterward, he stated "It turned out to be a lot more exploitative than I anticipated. I didn't realize.....how many scenes were going to be shirtless for no apparent reason."

Later in 1984, Hexum was cast opposite Jennifer O'Neill in the CBS primetime series Cover Up, playing Mac Harper, an undercover CIA operative posing as a model. And this is where his career abruptly ended.

On October 12, 1984, the TV company was filming the seventh episode of Cover Up. One of the scenes involved Hexum to load a .44 Magnum revolver, of which the crew supplied him with blanks. Getting the master shot was not as easy as hoped, and the filming was delayed. Bored and anxious from waiting so long for shooting to resume, Hexum was looking for ways to amuse himself. He thought faking a game of Russian roulette would be fun, so he unloaded all but one of the blanks in the gun. He gave the cylinder a spin, raised the gun to the right side of his head and pulled the trigger. The gun went off.

The blast ended up fracturing a quarter-sized piece of his skull that lodged into his brain, causing an enormous amount of hemorrhaging.

On October 18, Hexum was declared brain dead. His body, on life support, was flown to San Francisco where parts of his body were used as donations.
1) His heart was transplanted into a 36-year-old man.
2) One of his corneas were given to a 66-year-old man
3) The other cornea was given to a young girl.
4) A kidney was given to a critically ill five-year-old boy.
5) The 2nd kidney was given to a 43-year-old grandmother who had waited 8 years for one.
6) Skin was donated to help treat a 3 ½ year-old boy who suffered from third-degree burns.

Afterward, the rest of Hexum's body was cremated in Glendale, California, with the ashes distributed in the Pacific Ocean at Malibu.

What REALLY Happened?! Unraveling the Actor's Heartbreaking Last Hours on the Set of "Cover Up"

Making of a Male Model (1983) – Jon-Erik Hexum & Joan Collins TVM