'Missing my Pops today': Robin Thicke remembers late dad Alan Thicke in heartfelt throwback post

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The late star, 69, tragically died shortly after playing hockey with his youngest son, Carter. The longtime actor's cause of death was reportedly due to a "ruptured aorta" and a "standard type A aortic dissection," according to his official death certificate obtained by PEOPLE.

In an interview with Steve Harvey in 2019, as per the outlet, Robin opened up about his having matured and embracing his role as family patriarch. He admitted that he had a "little maturing to do" when his father died. Thicke further explained about having to step up for his half-brother Carter, who was 19 at the time of Alan's death. "When my father passed, I became the patriarch of my family. My young 20-year-old brother, he needed a big brother, and it just felt like now I had to take it onto my shoulders to be a much better, more focused, man than I was before," Robin explained. 

Earlier in October, Robin paid tribute to his father when he delivered a performance of Alan’s show from the 90s ‘Growing Pains’ theme song 'As Long As We Got Each Other' during an episode of The Masked Singer. Robin’s love for his father does not cease here as he opened up to PEOPLE about the meaning behind the first song he wrote after his father's death ‘That's What Love Can Do.’ 

"It's about the passing of the torch of my father to me and the kind of man I want to be," he shared. "After my father's death, I remember a friend of his said, 'A big tree has fallen.' That's what my dad was: the big tree. Now here I am, this medium-sized tree, and I've got to grow my branches and protect everybody. Every day I try to make him proud of me." "I was suffering blow after blow, loss after loss," Thicke continued. "But I saw the house burning down as a chance for me to step up and say, 'We're going to laugh today. We're going to smile today. We're going to play today. We're going to dance. We're not going to let losing our stuff matter because we've got each other.' Loss does beget gratitude."