From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Robert Urich December 19 1946 April 16 2002 was an American actor He played the starring role in the television series Spenser For Hire 19851988 and Vega 19781981 He also appeared in other television series over the years including SWAT 1975 Soap 1977 and The Lazarus Man 1996 as well as in several feature films including Turk 182 The Ice Pirates and Magnum Force Urich died in 2002 in Thousand Oaks California The actor announced in 1996 that he was suffering from synovial cell sarcoma a rare cancer that attacks the bodys joints for which he underwent several treatments during the last years of his life Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Urich licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia