Bill Hayes, who played a part on Days of Our Lives for a long time, has died.

It is true that the actor, whose real name was William Foster Hayes III, has died. He was 98 years old.

With heavy hearts, we tell you that our beloved Bill Hayes has died. “Bill created the role of ‘Doug Williams’ on Days of our Lives in 1970 and played him continuously throughout his life,'” a representative for the TV show told PEOPLE on Friday.

“For more than 50 years, he and his wife Susan Seaforth-Hayes were the core of the Williams-Horton family,” the representative said.

Producer of Days of Our Lives Ken Corday said, “I’ve known Bill for most of my life, and he was the heart and soul of Days of our Lives.” Bill’s legacy will live on in our hearts and the stories we tell, on and off the screen, even though we are sad and will miss him.

He was born in Harvey, Illinois, and celebrated his 98th birthday last summer on the set of the Peacock soap opera. His co-stars celebrated the big day with a personalized cake that had a picture of him when he was younger.

On the bottom of the cake, it said “Happy Birthday Bill.” Susan, his 80-year-old wife, was with him during the important event.

She told everyone on the set that Bill was the first person to ever sing on daytime TV while she gave him the cake. The people in his cast and on-set staff were proud of him.

The tribute was caught on video and shared on the couple’s shared Instagram account. The other people in the room were told to sing “Happy Birthday” to him after she told them about his big first.

“Thank you to everyone who came to work today to celebrate Billy’s 98th birthday. And I really liked the double chocolate cake! ���︒,” the caption on the carousel said.

Alison Sweeney, who used to play Sami on Days and worked with Hayes, wrote about him on Instagram: “The happiness in Bill’s expression in this photo is how he was every day I saw him.”

Bill won the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for his many years of work as Doug Williams on the soap opera.

There were many ways that the show meant a lot to him. They kissed on-screen in July 1970 after meeting on the set of the soap opera. Real life brought them together, and in October 1974 they got married.

When their TV characters said “I do” to each other on October 1, 1976, it was like they had a second wedding.

Bill’s son William Foster Hayes IV will live on.