Patrick Swayze lost his battle with pancreatic cancer Monday. He was 57.
“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” his rep tells PEOPLE in a statement.
A gifted dancer, a rugged outdoorsman, a romantic leading man and a loving husband, Swayze was also, as his brother Don put it, “a warrior” in his cancer fight. Appearing on Nightline, ABC’s Barbara Walters, who conducted one of the last in-depth interviews with the actor, reported that Swayze was with his wife, Lisa Niemi, and brother during his final hours at his ranch in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains near Los Angeles.
“Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can’t ever repay,” says Whoopi Goldberg, who starred with Swayze in one of his biggest movies, Ghost. “I believe in Ghost‘s message, so he’ll always be near.”
“Patrick lived a hundred lifetimes in one,” adds Rob Lowe, who appeared with Swayze in The Outsiders and Youngblood. “I will remember him for that, and I will remember him for how much he loved his wife Lisa. He was such an intense actor, so full of passion and vigor. He definitely made the most out of it. It’s a sad day.”
Swayze continued working on his A&E series The Beast even as he underwent chemotherapy – and never lost hope. About his prognosis, he did admit in the Barbara Walters interview that aired in January, “There’s a lot of fear here. Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [asking], ‘Why me?’ ”
A month before, Swayze had issued a statement to PEOPLE addressing speculation about his health, saying that such questions “cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I’m fighting.”