Paul Michael Glaser is paying tribute to his late Starsky & Hutch costar David Soul after his death at 80 on Thursday.

The actor remembered Soul as “a brother, a friend, and a caring man” in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, adding, “We shall never see his like again.”

The pair portrayed the titular police duo on the beloved action series — in which Glaser played the street-wise David Starsky to Soul’s cerebral Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson — throughout the 1970s.

Glaser explained that he is finding it “difficult to comprehend David’s passing” because it “seems only yesterday we were sharing loving insults on the phone.”

“It just takes time, I tell myself,” he continued. “Saying goodbye to such a dear friend and important part of my life, I suspect that I will let myself feel his loss, our loss, only gradually.”

Glaser also shared his condolences to Soul’s wife, Helen, “whom he loved and cherished and who stood beside him through these difficult years,” adding, “He could never tell me enough what she meant to him.”

“To all his sons and his daughter, China, my deepest sympathies,” he said. “And to all of you, our supportive and caring public, who recognized a very special relationship and never stopped telling us. Thank you.”

He concluded, “We have all lost a dear friend who shall live on in our memories.”

Soul died on Jan. 4 following a “valiant battle for life,” confirmed a social media post on his official account for X (formerly Twitter). “He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist, and dear friend,” it read. “His smile, laughter, and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

Soul’s first major TV roles were appearances on I Dream of Jeannie and Flipper, and he later starred on the Western comedy Here Come the Brides for two seasons, from 1968 to 1970. His other credits included the 1973 film Magnum Force and 1979’s Salem’s Lot.