As NegroTed pointed out in a status update this morning, Leonard Nimoy, best known as the man who played Spock on Star Trek, both the TV series and movies, has unfortunately passed away at the age of 83.
According to IMDB, the cause of his death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at its end-stage. As a fellow Trekkie, I am saddened by his death, as well as those who had respected him in person. William Shatner mentioned that he was like a brother to him, not just in Star Trek, but in real life as well.
Though he began his acting career at the young age of 20, we all know him best, of course, for Gene Roddenberry's late '60s sci-fi series Star Trek, where he portrayed Captain Kirk's first officer Spock, a Vulcan from the planet...well...Vulcan. In every single episode, we saw Spock at Kirk's side discovering new civilizations and life out in space whilst encountering hostile lifeforms and debating on what to do next. They also did it in the movies as well, two of which Nimoy directed (III and IV). He even made appearances in the recent Star Trek films by J.J. Abrams.
Outside of Star Trek, he also took part starring in episodes of Mission: Impossible as Paris, a couple of episodes of The Simpsons as himself, and starring in the more recent sci-fi series Fringe, amongst other minor roles throughout his career, including voicing the villain known as Xehanort in Disney and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series. It's unknown if he recorded any dialogue for Xehanort for Kingdom Hearts III before his death.
Aside from acting, he was also a legitimate doctor, as he obtained two honorary doctorates in the field of education, along with a masters degree in the same field. You could say that the character of Spock was with him. Not only this, but he communicated and related to his fans through fan letters and eventually Facebook and Twitter.
Though he is no longer with us, he does live on, not just in our hearts, but also through his past works. I don't think I'm the only one who's going to be doing a Trek-a-thon in spite of this sad news today. We can also be assured that he is joining his past Star Trek cast members who are also not with us (James Doohan and DeForest Kelly) in the skies above, most likely even the stars.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy. We shall indeed live long and prosper as you have.
1931-2015