“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek has died after battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years. “Jeopardy!” studio Sony says Trebek died at home early Sunday with family and friends surrounding him. He was 80.
Trebek presided over the beloved quiz show for more than 30 years. He was a master of the format, engaging in friendly banter with contestants and appearing genuinely pleased when they answered correctly. He was also able to move the game along in a brisk no-nonsense fashion whenever people struggled for answers.
Public figures who have died this year
FILE – In this July 20, 2015, file photo, Olympic gold medalist and philanthropist Rafer Johnson lifts his arm to mimic the lighting of the Olympic torch as he recalls the first Special Olympics World Games he attended, during a news conference in Los Angeles. Rafer Johnson, who won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968, died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020. He was 86. He died at his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, according to family friend Michael Roth.(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) 
Lynn Kellogg | Courtesy: Ivan Peixoto 
Half back Paul Hornung of the Green Bay Packers takes a lingering look at chilly Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc., Dec. 25, 1965. The stadium will be the scene of Sunday’s NFL Western Conference playoff game with the Baltimore Colts. (AP Photo/Charles Knoblock) 
FILE – Cast member Eddie Hassell poses at the premiere of “Jobs” during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 25, 2013. Hassell, known for his roles in the NBC show “Surface” and the 2010 film “The Kids Are All Right,” has died after a shooting in Texas, police said. He was 30. The shooting happened early Sunday in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie. Police said in a statement that officers responded to a report of a shooting and found Hassell suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP, File) 
Former Green Bay Packers cornerback Herb Adderley hugs his statue after enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, Aug. 2, 1980. Adderley, the defensive standout who also played with the Dallas Cowboys, called the day the biggest moment in his life. (AP Photo) 
WASHINGTON – MAY 13: (AFP OUT) Roberta McCain (R), mother of Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) (L), speaks during a taping for a broadcast on the “Meet the Press” website at the NBC Studios May 13, 2007 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press) 
FILE – In this June 12, 2016 file photo, former New York Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford waves to fans from outside the dugout at the Yankees’ annual Old Timers Day baseball game in New York. A family member tells The Associated Press on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 that Ford died at his Long Island home Thursday night. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File) 
American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash during his first visit to London for various public appearances, 3rd September 1968. (Photo by Ron Case/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 
INGLEWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 08: Musician Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen performs at their dress rehearsal for family and friends at the Forum on February 8, 2012 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) 
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – AUGUST 13:Sportsman Gale Sayers arrives at the Annual Harold Pump Foundation Gala Honoring Magic Johnson And Bill Russell at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, on August 13, 2009 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this Dec. 17, 2019, file photo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg looks up as she speaks about the antics of her son as she speaks with author Jeffrey Rosen at the National Constitution Center Americas Town Hall at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) 
FILE – In this Jan. 29, 2018 file photo, Chadwick Boseman, a cast member in “Black Panther,” poses at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. His representative says Boseman died Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 in Los Angeles after a four-year battle with colon cancer. He was 43. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – In this April 20, 2013, file photo, media mogul Sumner Redstone arrives at the 2013 MOCA Gala celebrating the opening of the Urs Fischer exhibition at MOCA, in Los Angeles. Redstone, the strong-willed media mogul whose public disputes with family members and subordinates made him a feared operator in Hollywood, died Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – In this June 20, 2014, file photo, Herman Cain, CEO, The New Voice, speaks during Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority event in Washington. Cain is being treated for the coronavirus at an Atlanta-area hospital. That’s according to a statement posted on his Twitter account Thursday, July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, File) 
368683 01: TV Show host Regis Philbin announced May 2, 2000 at the 21 Club in New York City that he and the Van Heusen Company signed a deal to market a ”Regis” dress shirt and neckwear collection for the United States market. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Newsmakers) 
FILE – This June 16, 2010 file photo, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., participates in a ceremony to unveil two plaques recognizing the contributions of enslaved African Americans in the construction of the United States Capitol on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, has died. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed his passing late Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) 
Actor Grant Imahara attends the premiere of”Star Trek: Renegades” held at Crest Westwood on Aug. 1, 2015, in Westwood, California. (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this June 14, 2018, file photo, Kelly Preston and John Travolta attend the premiere of “Gotti” at the SVA Theatre in New York. Preston, whose credits included the films “Twins” and “Jerry Maguire,” died Sunday, July 12, 2020, her husband Travolta said. She was 57. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) 
https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/national/country-rocker-and-fiddler-charlie-daniels-dies-at-age-83/ 
Honoree Carl Reiner addresses the audience at “The Paley Honors: A Special Tribute to Television’s Comedy Legends” at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) 
FILE – In this Jan. 20, 2011 file photo, Jean Kennedy Smith attends a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech on Capitol Hill in Washington. Jean Kennedy Smith, the youngest sister and last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy, died at 92, her daughter confirmed to The New York Times, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) 
FILE – In this March 22, 2017, file photo, former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan speaks at a news conference in Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz have announced that Jerry Sloan, the coach who took them to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998 on his way to a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame, has died. Sloan died Friday morning, May 22, 2020, the Jazz said, from complications related to Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 78. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File) 
Former Ohio Senator and NASA astronaut John Glenn and his wife, Annie, pictured on Sept. 23, 2012, in New York. (Photo by STEPHEN CHERNIN/AFP/GettyImages) 
FILE – This Dec. 10, 1982 file photo shows members of the original cast of the “Leave It To Beaver,” from left, Ken Osmond, Tony Dow, Barbara Billingsley and Jerry Mathers during the filming of their TV special, “Still The Beaver,” in Los Angeles. Osmond, who played the two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell on TV’s “Leave it to Beaver,” has died. Osmond’s family says he died Monday, May 18, 2020, in Los Angeles. He was 76. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File) 
Actor Jerry Stiller arrives at the Actor’s Fund Annual Gala Dinner and Tribute on November 17, 2003 at Cipriani’s Restaurant in New York City. (Photo by Sara Jaye/Getty Images) 
FILE – In this April 2, 2013, file photo, singer Betty Wright performs the national anthem before an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks in Miami. Wright, the Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love,” has died. Several media outlets reported that Wright died of cancer at her home in Miami on Sunday, May 10, 2020. She was 66. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) 
This 1985 image released by NBC shows executive producer Thomas L. Miller. Miller, who produced a string of hit TV comedies included “Full House” and “Perfect Strangers” before beginning a new chapter as a Tony Award-winning theater producer, has died. He was 79. Miller died Sunday in Salisbury, Connecticut, from complications of heart disease, a spokeswoman for Miller’s family said Wednesday. (Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank via AP) 
In this June 21, 2006 file photo, singer-songwriter Bill Withers poses in his office in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) 
FILE – In this Aug. 14, 2013, file photo, civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery speaks at an event in Atlanta announcing state lawmakers from around the county have formed an alliance they say will combat restrictive voting laws, Lowery, a veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination, died Friday, March 27, 2020, a family statement said. He was 98. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) 
(Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – In this Jan. 26, 2016, file photo, Fred Willard attends the LA Premiere of “50 Shades of Black” held at Regal L.A. Live, in Los Angeles. Willard, the comedic actor whose improv style kept him relevant for more than 50 years in films like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best In Show” and “Anchorman,” has died at age 86. Willard’s daughter, Hope Mulbarger, said in a statement Saturday, May 16, 2020, that her father died peacefully Friday night. (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – This Nov. 16, 1982 file photo shows actor Kirk Douglas at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. Douglas died Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 at age 103. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File) 
Joe Diffie (Courtesy: Crystal K. Martel) 
FILE – In this May 19, 2010, file photo, John Andretti watches during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. Andretti, a member of one of racing’s most families, has died following a battle with colon cancer, Andretti Autosports announced Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2020. He was 56. (AP Photo/AJ Mast, File) 
LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 19: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers smiles in the fourth quarter during the game against the Chicago Bulls on November 19, 2009 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers won 108-93. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) 
HOLLYWOOD, CA – APRIL 28: Screenwriter Buck Henry speaks onstage at the screening of ‘Heaven Can Wait’ during day 3 of the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 28, 2018 in Hollywood, California. 350482. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for TCM) 
FILE – In this June 7, 2009, file photo, NBA Commissioner David Stern announces Los Angeles will be the site of the 2011 NBA All-Star basketball game, at a news conference, in Los Angeles. David Stern, who spent 30 years as the NBA’s longest-serving commissioner and oversaw its growth into a global power, has died on New Year’s Day, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. He was 77. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
