Patrick SwayzeIn a year littered with celebrity passings, one more soul was added to the list today as Houston-born actor Patrick Swayze died- after a nearly two year battle with pancreatic cancer.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the 57-year-old Dirty Dancing star passed away with family at his side.

“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” said a statement released Monday evening in Los Angeles by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were given.

Swayze first came forward about his diagnosis in spring 2008, but decided to undergo treatments at the Stanford University Medical Center and still continue working at the same time-most recently on A&E’s now cancelled series The Beast. The actor was told he had Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasm (IPMN), a rare stage IV pancreatic cancer.

After he was treated with Cyberknife radiotherapy cancer treatment in 2008, Swayze appreared to be healthy -appearing on the ABC, NBC and CBS Simulcast of Standup to Cancer- but on January 9 2009, the actor was hospitilized with Pneumonia.

Swayze checked out a week later, but was then told in April 2009 that the cancer had attacked his liver. The actor admitted that his chain smoking “may had haved something to do with it,” but continued to smoke regardless.

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