R.I.P.: Alex Trebek, Television Host

Alex Trebeck (July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020)

Alex Trebek, the master of trivia whose quick wit, easy smile and my-favorite-professor demeanor made “Jeopardy” a welcome guest in the living rooms of America for decades, has died at his home overnight following a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to the quiz show’s Twitter account Sunday. 

He was 80, according to the LA Times.

The game show host had suffered a series of medical complications in recent years — a heart attack in 2007 and brain surgery for blood clots that formed after he hit his head in a fall in 2018. In early 2019 he revealed he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and vowed to beat the disease, joking that he still had three years left on his contract.

But there was urgency in his voice as well. “So help me,” he said on a YouTube video announcing the diagnosis. “Keep the faith and we’ll win.”

Late in the summer of 2019, Trebek — who was candid and open about his fears and the wrenching pain and lingering depression after undergoing rounds of chemotherapy — announced that he was back at work, filming for the upcoming season. “I’m on the mend,” he said, “and that’s all I can hope for.”

As the cancer ebbed and then roared back again, audiences, contestants and viewers seemed to form a nearly familial bond with Trebek, holding up signs of support during tapings, donating to cancer research in his name, lining up just to cheer as he entered the studio. One contestant, stumped by a question on Final Jeopardy, simply wrote, “What is, ‘We love you, Alex!’” on his answer board.

Trebek’s eyes welled up as he softly read the response aloud. “Thank you,” he said.

Relentlessly academic and stodgy in contrast to the more high-octane game shows of the 1980s, “Jeopardy” had already been canceled once when Trebek arrived in Hollywood in the early 1970s. But somehow, in his hands, the show was a natural fit, and he drove it up the ratings charts, where it remained an early evening favorite, even as other shows came and went.

Trebek became such an institution that he was parodied by Will Ferrell on “Saturday Night Live,” played himself on dozens of television shows and was used as a narrative device on television hits such as “Seinfeld.” Even his theme music became an instantly recognizable jingle that signaled, “Hurry up, time’s ticking.”

Born July 22, 1940, George Alexander Trebek grew up in Sudbury, Canada, in northern Ontario where he dreamed of becoming a hockey player. Studious as a child, Trebek graduated from the University of Ottawa with a degree in philosophy and became a regional authority on the controversial separatist movement in Quebec while working as a reporter for Canadian Broadcasting Corp. His ability to speak French put him at an advantage over his colleagues.