Ron Palillo passed away today at the age of 63, and the Community must mourn the loss of another one of our members. Ron Palillo was found by his partner of 41 years, Joseph Gramm- also a retired actor. He was transported to the local hospital, but had suffered a fatal heart attack.

Palillo was best known for his role on Welcome Back Kotter where he played Arnold Horshack, but he worked on a number of different projects including in several Broadway productions like Amadeus and Guys and Dolls. His agent, Scott Stander, said that Palillo was “upbeat, fun, a great friend who loved theater, loved the fans and had a great sense of humor,” the actor’s agent, Scott Stander, told CNN.

His fellow Kotter alum Gabe Kaplan told the Huffington Post that “Ron was a great colleague and friend. I had been talking about Horshack in my nightclub act and on TV for years before ‘WBK’ started. When Ron walked into the audition and did his first line ‘Hello, how are you? I’m Arnold Horshack’ I said, ‘That’s him. That’s the guy I’ve been talking about for 5 years.’”

Picture via TMZ