*TV talk show icon Jerry Springer has died at age 79, his family confirmed in a statement on Thursday.
Springer passed away peacefully at his home in Chicago on April 27, months after being diagnosed with cancer. His cause of death is yet to be revealed.
“Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” family spokesman Jene Galvin said in a statement, the UK Mirror reports.
“He’s irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on,” the statement continued.
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Springer is famously known for the controversial “Jerry Springer Show” which began its multi-decade run in 1991. Prior to that he worked as a lawyer and was the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio from 1977 to 1978.
“For 10 years, I was a city councilman and mayor of Cincinnati. When I couldn’t run again, NBC offered me a job to anchor their news on the NBC affiliate there in Cincinnati, figuring that if I had been a councilman and mayor for 10 years that I knew the city and therefore might have some credibility,” Springer once shared, PopCulture.com reports. “So I never even thought about it, but they offered me the job and I didn’t know yet if I would run again for another office or something like that. So I figured [I’d] give it a shot.”
Springer added, “And, basically, that’s how I got into it: It was handed to me. I wasn’t so interested in anchoring. I was more interested in doing political commentary. So we worked out a deal that I would agree to anchor the news at what turned out to be 5:36 and 11,” he explained.
“But at the end of every newscast, I could do a two-minute commentary on something that happened in the news that day. And that kind of became the staple, and it became popular in Cincinnati for 10 years, and that’s how you wind up getting a talk show,” Springer said.
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