Neil Hope.(Obituary)(Brief article)

Actor Nell Hope, who starred as Derek "Wheels" Wheeler on the popular 1980s TV series "Degrassi Junior High" and had little contact with relatives and friends in his final years, died alone in an Ontario rooming house in 2007, his former fiancee confirmed.

Ex-fiancee Christina Boulard said Hope's family spent years trying to track him down after hearing rumors of his passing several years ago but only learned last month from police in Hamilton, Ontario, that he had died.

Boulard said the former star of Canada's groundbreaking "Degrassi" series died on Nov. 25, 2007, of natural causes at the age of 35 but declined to elaborate, saying only that Hope was diabetic.