Actor Charles Keating visited Prince George twice during his storied career and had nothing but praise for the city.
On Friday, Keating died at the age of 72 in his Weston, Conn., home after a three-year battle with lung cancer.
Keating was best known for his roles on the soap operas All My Children, As the World Turns and his Daytime Emmy-winning nine-year run as as Carl Hutchins on Another World in the 1990s. But Keating considered himself more of a stage actor, who helped found a theatre company in his native England and worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
"He had promised my mom when he was first diagnosed that he would make it to their 50th anniversary," son Sean Keating told The Associated Press on Friday. "He made it almost to the hour."
In 2010, Keating was invited to Prince George by the Northern Medical Program Trust to give the keynote address at the Dr. Bob Ewert Memorial Lecture.
He presented a one-man show entitled I and I: The Sense of Self that reflected on aging and wisdom during his appearance at the Civic Centre.
It was his second visit to the city following a 1995 visit with actress Victoria Wyndham to perform their production of Love Letters for a local theatre benefit.
Following his return home in 2010, Keating wrote a letter to the editor, calling his visit "exceptional" and praising all he came into contact with - from the Ramada Hotel staff to the employees at Starbucks, to the students he met at local high schools.
"The audience at the Civic Centre was special, gracious and informed and I wondered if what I felt and sensed at the Civic Centre had percolated through town," he wrote. "Thank you for such a memorable experience and please know that your medical community would be very welcome here in Connecticut."
Keating is survived by his wife, two sons and six grandchildren.
-- with files from The Associated Press
