Prior to Monday's airing of Jeopardy!, the first episode to be televised since the death of Alex Trebek on Sunday morning, executive producer Mike Richards paid tribute to the show's longtime host with a message to viewers.
"Over the weekend we lost our beloved host Alex Trebek. This is an enormous loss for our staff and crew, for his family and for his millions of fans," said Richards. "He loved this show and everything it stood for. In fact, he taped his final episodes less than two weeks ago.
"He will forever be an inspiration for his constant desire to learn, his kindness and for his love of his family."
Richards also added that Trebek's final run of shows, 35 episodes of which have yet to air, will go on as is because "that's what [Trebek] wanted."
"On behalf of everyone, thank you for everything Alex," Richards said prior to a brief moment of silence that showed an empty Jeopardy! stage.
The death of the GOAT host on Sunday morning was met with fond remembrances of Trebek from fans, celebrities, former contestants, and a lot of other people who just liked him/understood his place as an iconic TV figure.
Trebek died at the age of 80 after an extended battle with pancreatic cancer, which was first publicly revealed on March 6, 2019. In the 20 months between then and now, there were a number of updates that included: some positive developments (like his cancer nearing remission), lots of negative developments (like him revealing the mental/physical tolls the disease and subsequent treatments were having on him), and the occasional touching moment (like him talking about the value of fan support, or this contestant using his Final Jeopardy response to choke up the host with an answer in which he said "We love you, Alex").
In a memoir released in July titled The Answer Is …: Reflections on My Life, Trebek deemed his run a "good, full life."
"One thing they're not going to say at my funeral as part of the eulogy is, 'He was taken from us too soon,'" he wrote in that book. "I'm about to turn 80. I've lived a good, full life, and I'm nearing the end of it. I know that."
He also penned what he hoped would be his legacy.
"I'd like to be remembered first of all as a good and loving husband and father, and also as a decent man who did his best to help people perform at their best. If that's the way I'm remembered, I'm perfectly happy with that."
Feel perfectly free to watch as many of his remaining episodes as you can.
