Patrick Swayze finally succumbed to stage IV pancreatic cancer yesterday after a 20 month battle.  Swayze managed to last three times as long as the average prognosis for this deadly cancer.  Unlike may stars who use their celebrity to trumpet woonackery, Swayze used his status to bitch slap the quacks on national television. 

If anybody had that cure out there, like so many people swear they do, you'd be two things. You'd be very rich, and you'd be very famous. Otherwise, shut up.
-Patrick Swayze

Throughout his battle with cancer, Swayze publicly embraced scientific medicine and did not cling to false hope:

"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC television's Barbara Walters in early 2009.

"Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."
-ktla.com

Those of you with a preference for the boys may choose to remember Swayze from Dirty Dancing or Ghost.  I tend to remember Jennifer Grey and Demi Moore from those fine films.  Instead, I'll choose to remember Swayze in perhaps his second finest role (the Chris Farley Chippendales skit on Saturday Night Live clearly being the first) as Dalton in Road House, which provided words to live by when faced with impossible odds.

Pain don't hurt. 
-Patrick Swayze as Dalton