Ron Glass, whose extensive TV credits included the beloved Firefly, has died or respiratory failure, according to The Wrap. In more recent years, Glass was known as the religious and sage Shepherd Book on Joss Whedon’s short-lived space Western, a role that he reprised in the feature film Serenity.

However, Glass’ career spanned decades, and his other iconic part was that of Sgt. Ron Harris on the long-running Barney Miller. He spent eight seasons on the sitcom, and shortly thereafter he became Felix Unger on The New Odd Couple. Glass also did voice work, and his intonations will be known to Nickelodeon fans as Rugrats’ Randy Carmichael.

Glass was active in community efforts in Los Angeles as well as Evansville. He was chairman of the board of the Al Wooten, Jr. Heritage Center, a Los Angeles based organization dedicated to empowering the growth of young people in the community in crisis, according to his UE profile.

In 1980, he was awarded the University of Evansville’s Medal of Honor and was most recently given the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award by the UE Alumni Association.