How sad. I heard he had cancer. I wasn't aware that he was sick.
I do remember his relationship with Burt Reynolds. As a matter of fact they played a short clip of him on NPR radio with him telling how it came to be that he and Burt got to know each other.
He said that he was on Johnny Carson and laid on the desk and although didn't say it, described in detail the pose that Burt Reynolds had in his famous Cosmopolitan Magazine foldout.
Dom says the next day Burt sent him a handwritten note saying, "Leave Me Alone".....Love Burt. He said from then on they became good friends.
RIP
TIS