Drake Hogestyn’s final Days of Our Lives episodes have already aired — and his character left on a touching high note. The actor, who died Saturday, September 28, after battling pancreatic cancer, had previously made his last appearance as John Black on the hit ABC soap opera in an episode that aired September 9.

If you've read through the beautiful tributes that the Days of Our Lives cast has written for Drake Hogestyn - and if you haven't, you can do so here - you know that if there was one thing he was more passionate about than playing the soap's Sturm und Drang,

Longtime “Days of Our Lives” star Drake Hogestyn, who played John Black for nearly four decades, has died at age 70.