Alex Trebek

George Alexander Trebek (trəˈbɛk; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020. Trebek also hosted a number of other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, High Rollers, Battlestars, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth. He also made appearances, usually as himself, in numerous films and television series. A native of Canada, Trebek became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998. For his work on Jeopardy!, Trebek received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host eight times. He died on November 8, 2020, at the age of 80, after a 20-month battle with stage IV pancreatic cancer. At the time of his death, Trebek had been contracted to host Jeopardy! until 2022. Trebek was born on July 22, 1940, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the son of George Edward Trebek (born Terebeychuk), a chef who had emigrated from Ukraine as a child, and Lucille Marie Lagacé (April 14, 1921 – 2016), a Franco-Ontarian. Trebek had roots in Renfrew County, Ontario, where his maternal grandmother was born in Mount St. Patrick near Renfrew. Trebek grew up in a bilingual French-English household. He was almost expelled from the boarding school that his parents sent him to. Shortly after, Trebek attended a military college but dropped out when he was asked to cut his hair. Trebek's first job at age 13 was as a bellhop at the hotel where his father worked as a chef. Trebek attended Sudbury High School (now Sudbury Secondary School) and then attended the University of Ottawa. He graduated from the University of Ottawa with a degree in philosophy in 1961. While a university student, Trebek was a member of the English Debating Society. At the time, he was interested in a broadcast news career. Before completing his degree, Trebek began his career in 1961 working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.