Jerry Springer Dead At 79

CHICAGO, IL — Jerry Springer has died, a family spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press. He was 79 and died Thursday morning at home in the Chicago area after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, TMZ reported.

Springer was the longtime host of "The Jerry Springer Show," known for wild fights among its guests, including chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments. The show never strayed from its core salaciousness: Some of its last episodes had such titles as "Stripper Sex Turned Me Straight," "Stop Pimpin' My Twin Sister," and "Hooking Up With My Therapist."

“Why is it so outrageous that people who aren’t famous talk about their private lives?” Springer once said, according to The New York Times. “It’s like, ‘It’s OK if good-looking people talk about who they slept with, but, please, if you are ugly, we don’t want to hear about it?’”

The show ended in 2018, after more than 4,000 episodes.

Gerald Norman Springer was born Feb. 13, 1944, in a London underground railway station being used as a bomb shelter. His parents were German Jews who fled to England during the Holocaust, in which other relatives were killed in Nazi gas chambers. They arrived in the United States when Springer was 5 and settled in the Queens borough of New York City.

Springer studied political science at Tulane University, got a law degree from Northwestern University, and, while working for a Cincinnati law firm, was elected to the city council in 1971.

In 1974, he resigned, citing "very personal family considerations," but what he didn't mention was a vice probe involving prostitution. In a subsequent admission that could have been the basis for one of his future shows, Springer said he had paid prostitutes with personal checks.

He quickly bounced back politically, winning a council seat in 1975 and serving as mayor in 1977. He later became a local television politics reporter with popular evening commentaries, and began his talk show in 1991 with more of a traditional format. In 1993, the show got a sleazy makeover.

“A lot of people judge him based on his program. It was reprehensible and even he acknowledged that,” former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told the Cincinnati Enquirer of his longtime friend. “Even in the midst of that, he was never judgmental of other people. He felt that people should be able to live their lives. That’s in stark contrast to some of the political leadership today.”

At its peak, "The Jerry Springer Show" was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. The daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey's show.

On his Twitter profile, Springer jokingly declared himself as "Talk show host, ringmaster of civilization's end." He also often had told people, tongue in cheek, that his wish for them was "may you never be on my show."

“I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a comfortable measure of success in my various careers,” Springer said during a 2008 commencement address at Northwestern, the Times reported. “But let’s be honest, I’ve been virtually everything you can’t respect: a lawyer, a mayor, a major-market news anchor and a talk-show host. Pray for me. If I get to heaven, we’re all going.”

Springer is survived by a daughter, Katie Springer, and his older sister, according to TMZ.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.