When Zaslow passed away in 1998, David was written to have likewise died. The character, who was absent from the show for several years, was given the same diagnosis when he returned. Also on One Life to Live was Michael Zaslow, who played David Renaldi the actor was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and confined to a wheelchair.It was very well-handled, especially for an entertainment genre that had struggled over how or if to acknowledge the tragedy onscreen. The in-universe story was that Perry had been visiting New York on that day (the show is set in Pennsylvania, making this plausible), but had died as he had in Real Life - rushing down to the Trade Center to help, and killed when the South Tower collapsed. The first anniversary was commemorated when Commissioner Bo Buchanan was seen looking at John's picture and sadly musing, "I can't believe it's been a year " the scene evidently did not require much acting on the part of Bo's actor, Robert Woods. Perry had frequently appeared on the show as an extra before he was killed in the September 11th attacks. A very touching example occurred on One Life to Live.
In a soap opera, this is one of the only occasions when you know a character is not coming back from the dead (regardless of whether they ever found the body), although this is usually reserved for elderly actors who have played the role for so long that it would be impossible, if not outright disrespectful, to re-cast the part.