SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va- The morning of Nov. 8 Alex Trebek passed away after announcing his diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer in March 2019.
On the morning of Trebek’s passing, Jeopardy released a statement on Twitter, “Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends.”
This generated an outpour of support and well wishes from fans on various social media platforms.
Former Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings tweeted Sunday he was thinking of Trebek’s family and the Jeopardy family, “which, in a way, included millions of us.” Other fans of the show say Jeopardy helped them learn English.
According to CNN Elly Shariat a fan of the show, spoke only Farsi when she moved to the US from Iran as a young girl. But when her father introduced her to Jeopardy her world opened up.
Shariat learned to pronounce words that appeared on screen. Her dad even paid her 25 cents when she got the answers right.
Pancreatic cancer was not the first health scare for Trebek. He suffered a heart attack in 2007 and a second in 2012. He also had blood clots surgically removed from his brain in 2017.
Trebek was originally from Canada but in 1998 he became a citizen of the United States. The husband and father of three also hosted The National Geographic Bee for 25 years.
After learning about his diagnosis Trebek decided to still continue with the show. He hosted the show leading up to Oct. 29th.
In 1966, when he was in his mid-20s, he decided to go from journalism to game show hosting. He started as a quiz show host titled Reach for the Top.
A few years later he hosted Jackpot. In 1984
Trebek landed what turned out to be his big break, when producer-host Merv Griffin chose him to host Jeopardy.
The show since then has had over 37 seasons and more than 8,200 episodes. This was the most by a presenter of any single TV game show, according to Sony Pictures.
Since beginning he has earned 5 Daytime Emmy awards and a Lifetime achievement award from the television academy. In 1997 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Today Trebek is remembered for many things but what he is most remembered for his outstanding career as the host of Jeopardy.