Even knowing George died when Sheldon was 14, I wasn't expecting the show to kill him off before the finale. I'm not sure whether I would've preferred the very last scene of the show being the announcement of George's death or the last (second to last?) episode being the funeral. Either way, while YS's version of George doesn't fit Sheldon's memories of his dad (and Sheldon has an eidetic memory, so it would be hard to explain adequately the two different versions of George), I've loved George on YS and thought the actor did an amazing job making what was supposed to be an unlikeable character likeable.
Missy's sobbing "But he's going to be all right, right?" <paraphrasing> practically broke me at the end of this last episode.