The longtime Jeopardy! host has donated more than $7 million to the university
University of Ottawa alumnus and renowned Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has announced he has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
In a short, unedited video posted to the show’s Twitter page, Trebek gave the news himself out of a desire to be “open and transparent with our Jeopardy! fanbase.”
Trebek graduated from U of O with a philosophy degree in 1961. He has donated more than $7 million to the school over the years, and in response the U of O has named its Alumni Hall and a lecture series after him.
Trebek made a visit to campus in 2015 to unveil the hall, and returned to Ottawa in 2017 to receive the Order of Canada.
“I’m going to fight (the cancer),” Trebek said in the video. “I’m going to keep working, and with the love and support of my family and friends, and with the help of your prayers also, I plan to beat the low survival rate statistics for this disease.”
True to his ever-present dry humour, Trebek joked in the video that he couldn’t die yet since his contract required him to host Jeopardy! through to 2022.
