Kristoff St. John's Neil Winters was a transformative black TV character

The New York Times

St. John, who died Sunday at age 52, originated the role of Winters in 1991, playing him all the way until his death, becoming the second-longest-serving black soap opera actor after Days of Our Lives' James Reynolds. "Black men like Neil have been hard to come by on television," says Stacy Y. China. "He was a young, up-and-coming executive at Newman Enterprises, fresh out of Stanford. He was self-assured without being arrogant, and down-to-earth without being a caricature or a clown. He was ambitious, he loved his friends, and he got along well with all of those veteran, high-flying executive types." China adds: "St. John was still a young man on a veteran show. He could have had many more years as Neil, wrangling with a younger generation led by his children, Lily and Devon. Through it all, Neil was not a thug, not a troubled child, not somebody the white people needed to save. He did not need 'help.' He was an equal. He wasn’t anyone’s charity project. All he needed was a chance, and Genoa City gave him that." ALSO: A future Young and the Restless storyline will pay tribute to St. John and his character.