Update: Daymare 1998‘s Invader Studios has issued a statement about Haddad’s passing.
“Paul Haddad, our dear friend and an icon among the Resident Evil community, has passed away recently,” reads the statement. “We’ve been truly honoured to have the chance to meet and work with such a great man and a brilliant professional that he was. Rest in peace, Paul… you will live forever in our hearts.”
Original story: Reports are surfacing that Paul Haddad, the original voice of Resident Evil 2‘s Leon S. Kennedy, has passed after a battle with throat cancer.
An official confirmation of Haddad’s passing, nor a statement from family, has yet to have surfaced. Furthermore, an obituary for the actor has yet to appear on online networks servicing Ontario, Canada, the province where Haddad has called home for numerous years.
The Resident Evil Wikipedia Twitter account has posted of Haddad’s passing but has not detailed where the information has been sourced. Wikipedia itself has been updated to suggest Haddad passed away on 15 April, though the source of that information was not provided either.
We've recently been made aware that Paul Haddad, voice of Leon in the original Resident Evil 2, has died this week following a battle with stage-3 throat cancer. Thoughts are with family and friends.
— Resident Evil Wiki (@RE_Wiki) April 17, 2020
Haddad’s last public Facebook post is dated 12 February 2020 and links to a GoFundMe the actor had set up in order to pay for what he described as his “3rd Neurosurgery… in 3 months.”
Those who’ve posted on Paul’s page in the last twenty-four hours are doing so in reaction to the alleged news, whilst others are offering what they claim to be personal knowledge of Haddad’s final days.
“To all of my friends who are and were friends of Paul Haddad – i [sic] have just learned that he has passed,” a woman named Sharon wrote in a post that’s since been removed. “Lots of us McGill Gang had a lot of laughs with Paul – we kept in touch on and off all the way since then. What a complex and beautiful man.”
“I talked to him on the phone last week,” added a woman named Pamela. “I was able to send him nearly a grand and he was worried how to pay it back. Only a small part of that was a loan, the rest was a gift. I know he got his GoFundMe money. His surgery was put off again because of [COVID-19]. OMG, can’t handle this. I love you, Paul. I did all I could.”
In January 2020, Haddad took to YouTube to confirm he’d secured a role in the Resident Evil 2 fan project-turned-original IP release, Daymare 1998.
We’ll report back on this story as more is known.
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