![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Della Reese, left, with other cast members of "Touched by an Angel" in 2003. From left are Roma Downey, John Dye and Valerie Bertinelli.
CBS; thumbnail, Paul Warner/Associated Press, 2001
Della Reese
Died on November 19, 2017 at age 86
A husky-voiced singer and actress, Ms. Reese spent almost a decade playing a down-to-earth heavenly messenger on the CBS series “Touched by an Angel” and became an ordained minister in real life.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.