Alex Trebek Passed Away 'Peacefully At Home Early This Morning, Surrounded By Family & Friends'

Beloved television host Alek Trebek passed away on Sunday morning.

The television legend and longtime popular Jeopardy! host was 80 years old.

The show’s official Twitter account announced the news first on Sunday morning, revealing that the longtime, legendary Canadian-born TV host had “passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends.”

They shared the news with fans and followers (below):

Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends. Thank you, Alex. pic.twitter.com/Yk2a90CHIM

— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 8, 2020

So sad.

As we’d been reporting over the past several months, the TV host had been battling pancreatic cancer for quite some time now. For a while there, doctors were even fairly optimistic that he’d beaten the odds on surviving a particularly aggressive stage-four form of the disease.

At one point in the past year during recovery, according to TMZ, Trebek himself had actually pointed out that patients had just a seven percent chance of living a second year past stage-four pancreatic cancer. For a while there it seemed as though the beloved host might make it, but now he sadly succumbed to the disease he’d spent so long fighting. So, so sad.

For a time, too, Trebek had even returned to his hosting duties on Jeopardy!, and even began his 37th season on the show earlier this year. Unfortunately, though, all that has come to an end now, too.

According to TMZ, Trebek’s last day taping in the studio actually came on October 29th, just over a week ago. They say his hosted episodes will last through at least December 25 of this year, thankfully, so there’s still plenty of time to watch Trebek do what so many have loved him for over so many years. He had been looking forward to the future as much as possible, too; as he himself noted many times, he was signed to contractually host the show through 2022, so he clearly wasn’t ready to give it all up quite yet!

The shows executive producer, Mike Richards, release a statement about working with Trebek for so many years, as well, saying (below):

“Working beside him for the past year and a half as he heroically continued to host Jeopardy! was an incredible honor. His belief in the importance of the show and his willingness to push himself to perform at the highest level was the most inspiring demonstration of courage I have ever seen.”

No kidding…

Legendary Jeopardy! star Ken Jennings weighed in with his thoughts after Alex’s death, too:

Thinking today about his family and his Jeopardy! family—which, in a way, included millions of us.

— Ken Jennings (@KenJennings) November 8, 2020

So sad.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Trebek’s family, friends, and loved ones, as well as all of his beloved fans and followers. This is a tough one. Ugh.

Rest in Peace, Alex…

[Image via WENN]