Alex Trebek, the host of “Jeopardy!” for more than 35 years, died Sunday at age 80 from pancreatic cancer. That is a contest many of us were following and hoped somehow he would never lose.
Nineteen months after making his diagnosis public — months through which he continued to host the show, published a book, “The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life,” and kept the public abreast of his progress in a way that was informative and forthcoming without breaching the modesty he wore like a bespoke suit — the clock has run out. Merv Griffin’s “Final Jeopardy” theme winds down to silence. The answer and the question are one.
There have been many great game show hosts across the years. Gene Rayburn, Allen Ludden, Monty Hall, Peter Marshall and Richard Dawson are some I grew up on; Jane Lynch, Drew Carey, Anthony Anderson and Steve Harvey are among those currently holding aloft that torch. But Trebek stands apart — a beloved figure, a historical personage. You could be well into middle age and never have known a world in which Trebek did not host “Jeopardy!” Until now.
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