On August 25, 1965, he entered the Veterans Hospital in Sawtelle, California, for treatment of cirrhosis of the liver. He died on September 10, 1965, at the age of 42. Of his former Dead End Kid and East Side Kid co-star, Leo Gorcey once observed, "Bobby Jordan must not have had a guardian angel." One of his last performances was in a Bonanza episode, "The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch", where he played one of Bullet Head Burke's right hand men.