
Famous New York Comedian and actor from the hit sitcom Seinfeld Hiram Kasten has passed away at 71. The announcement of Kasten’s passing came from a heartfelt post shared by his wife on Facebook this past Sunday. Kasten’s wife confirmed that the comedic actor’s cause of death was from complications of a long battle with prostate cancer and Crohn’s disease.
Kasten’s wife, Diana Kisiel Kastenbaum took to Facebook this past Father’s Day to announce the tragic death of her husband. Kasten’s wife revealed online that the comedic actor has suffered a lifelong battle with Crohn’s disease as well as a battle with prostate cancer that has affected his health since 2017. Kastenbaum’s heartfelt post had been the first public revealing of her late husband’s health issues outside of friends and family within the last six months. Kastenbaum continued her memorial post by stating that Kasten was survived by his loving wife, in Batavia, New York, in which the late comedian’s wife revealed that the two had just celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary hours before Kasten died in his wife’s arms. A funeral service for Kasten will be held in Forest Hills, New York, while a public memorial will be held in Los Angeles sometime this summer, however, the date has yet to be scheduled.
Kasten’s wife continued in her post with a backstory on Kasten’s career, which began at New York comedy clubs back in the 1970s and 80s. Kastenbaum praised her late husband’s community of comedians and artists which she stated “prolonged” the late comedian’s life for at least another two months.
Kasten played Michael in the New York-based sitcom Seinfeld, in which he played a coworker to Julia Louis-Dreyfus from 1993 to 1994. Kasten landed the role after being a frequent performer at the Comic Strip in New York, where he met and befriended the show’s co-founder Jerry Seinfeld. Kasten and Jerry Seinfeld remained friends for 45 years.