Soo, a smoker, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer during Barney Miller's fourth season (1977–1978), missing the last five episodes. He returned for the opening of season five, but the cancer spread quickly, and Soo died on January 11, 1979, at age 61, at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center (now the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center).[12] His last appearance on the show was in the episode entitled "The Vandal", which aired on November 9, 1978,[citation needed] delivering the episode's final line, "...I have nothing to add."