Alex Trebek, the longtime and beloved Jeopardy! host, has passed away. He was 80.
The revered TV icon, who had hosted the family-friendly game show since 1984, died from stage four pancreatic cancer on Sunday (November 8), TMZ has learned.
"Jeopardy is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” a spokesperson for Trebek told the celebrity gossip outlet in a story published this afternoon.
As Jeopardy! fans know, Trebek announced his cancer diagnosis in March 2019.
At the time, Trebek broke the hard news in a video message to fans, admitting that, while his prognosis was “not very encouraging,” he insisted, “I’m going to fight this and I’m going to keep working.”
"I plan to beat the low survival rates for this disease," he added, leaning on the support of fans. “So help me, keep the faith and we'll win, we'll get it done. "
Trebek immediately began chemotherapy treatments not long after sharing the news. Even so, he continued to host the game show into its 37th season.
This past July, Trebek provided a hopeful health update via a video message informing fans that his cancer treatments had been “paying off” despite the “fatigue” he experienced during the process. He assured his “numbers are great” and that he was “feeling good” at the time of the message.
Speaking to Good Morning America earlier this year, Trebek expressed he would not “go to any extraordinary measures to ensure my survival” if immunotherapy treatments proved unsuccessful. He stated, “If the quality of life is not there, it’s hard sometimes to push and just say, ‘Well, I’m going to keep going, even though I’m miserable.'"
Trebek is survived by his wife, Jean, and their two children: son Matthew, 29, and daughter Emily, 27.
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