'Baywatch' actor dies aged 68 after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease

Michael Newman, who played lifeguard Mike “Newmie” Newman on “Baywatch,” has died. He was 68.

Newman died 18 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

The news was confirmed Tuesday by Newman's close friend Matt Felker, who recently directed the Hulu docuseries about “Baywatch.”

The late actor died “of heart complications” on Sunday evening, “surrounded by his family and friends.”

“The last time I saw Mike was when he was conscious and he looked at me and said, in typical Mike fashion, 'You're just in time,'” Felker told PEOPLE.

Newman was the only “Baywatch” cast member who was a real lifeguard. He appeared in 150 episodes of the series, more than anyone except David Hasselhoff.

The actor was also a full-time firefighter during his starring role in Baywatch. After the show ended in 2001, he returned to the fire department until he retired after 25 years.

Newman was 50 years old when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2006.

His life with the disease was highlighted in After Baywatch: Moment in the Sun, which focused on the cast's lives after taking part in the popular series.

“This terminal illness has given me a lot of time to think, which I may not have wanted, but it has brought me wisdom,” Newman told PEOPLE in August.

“My body has changed so slowly that I hardly notice it, and yet I am constantly reminded that Parkinson's has now become the center of my life,” he added.

“I cherish the days I get to spend on this earth with family and friends,” he continued. “I take life seriously.”

He shared that the words he lives by are, “It’s not a breakthrough.”

In the docuseries, Newman revealed that he took ten medications a day during his battle with Parkinson's.

Last year, Newman explained why he retired from Hollywood despite having “great joy” in acting.

“You don't realize how hard it is to look natural in front of the lens and watch yourself improve and sometimes not improve,” he told PEOPLE at the time.

“If you didn’t have to be there, why would you want to be there?” he added of the entertainment industry. “Let's be honest… there aren't too many actors who have survived the years of working in Hollywood.”

Newman spent the last years of his life raising money at the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help find a cure for Parkinson's.

The late star is survived by his wife of 36 years, Sarah, their children Chris and Emily, and their one-year-old granddaughter Charlie.