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Mark Goddard, best known for his roles as Derek Barrington in the long-running soap “General Hospital” and Major Don West in the CBS TV series “Lost in Space,” has died at age 87. The sad news was confirmed by his wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, in a Facebook statement. “I’ll never know how I deserved to spend 33 years with such a loving, gentle, handsome man who made me laugh so often,” it read, in part.
According to Pezzulich, Goddard was diagnosed with pneumonia a few days after his birthday. “We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure,” she shared. She revealed that she was with her husband during his final moments, as were his children. Goddard and Pezzulich, a retired English professor, had one child together, a son named John. Goddard’s survivors also include his daughter Melissa and his son Michael, whom he shared with his first wife, late Hollywood art consultant Marcia Rogers.
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Goddard is being remembered fondly by fans of his work and those who worked with him, including his “Lost in Space” co-star Billy Mumy. “Shortly after a great phone chat he and I had on his 87th birthday in late July, I became aware that I would most likely never see or speak with him again,” Mumy wrote on Facebook. “The last words we exchanged were ‘I love you.'”
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