George Alexander Trebek[2] (/trəˈbɛk/; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian and American game show host and television personality.

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.

[3] For his work on Jeopardy!, Trebek received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host eight times.

[23] A year later Trebek hosted the popular Merrill Heatter-Bob Quigley game show High Rollers, which had two incarnations on NBC (1974–76 and 1978–80) and an accompanying syndicated season (1975–76).

[26] Since the second incarnation of High Rollers premiered while The $128,000 Question was still airing and taping episodes, Trebek became one of two hosts to emcee shows in both the United States and Canada, joining Jim Perry, who was hosting Definition and Headline Hunters in Canada and Card Sharks, which coincidentally premiered the same day as High Rollers in 1978 in the United States.

Trebek's francophone side was put on display in 1978, in a special bilingual edition of Reach for the Top and its Radio-Canada equivalent, Génies en herbe.

[28] Trebek and several other game show hosts (Allen Ludden, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, Jack Clark, Tom Kennedy, Gene Rayburn, and Jim Lange) competed in a 3-week-long round-robin tournament for charity.

when original host Art Fleming (a friend of Trebek's) declined to return to the role owing to creative differences.

primetime special event titled The Greatest of All Time on ABC in January 2020, pitting the highest money winners in the show's history, Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings, and James Holzhauer, against each other.

[48][49][50][51] In August 1995, during a return to his broadcast-news roots, Trebek filled in for Charles Gibson for a week on Good Morning America.

[48][54] On October 1, 2018, Trebek moderated the only debate in the Pennsylvania governor's race, between Democrat Tom Wolf and Republican Scott Wagner.

[66] On January 30, 2004, Trebek escaped major injury after falling asleep behind the wheel of his pickup truck while driving alone on a rural road in the Central Coast town of Templeton, California, returning from a family home in Lake Nacimiento.

[77][78][79] Early in the morning on July 26, 2011, Trebek injured his Achilles tendon while chasing a burglar who had entered his San Francisco hotel room, requiring six weeks in a cast.

taping, Trebek was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after reportedly experiencing complications from a fall in October of that year.

[86] In 2018, while being interviewed by Harvey Levin on Fox News, Trebek floated the idea of retirement, saying the odds of his leaving Jeopardy!

[87] In October 2018, Trebek signed a new contract to continue as host through 2022,[4] stating in January 2019 that although he was beginning to slow down due to his age, the show's work schedule, consisting of 46 taping sessions each year, was still manageable.

[89] In a prepared video announcement of the diagnosis, Trebek noted that his prognosis was poor but said that he would aggressively fight the cancer in hopes of beating the odds and would continue hosting Jeopardy!

[90] Trebek updated the situation in May 2019, stating that he was responding exceptionally well to treatment and that some of the tumors had shrunk to half their previously observed size; he credited the prayers and well wishes of his fans for the better-than-usual results and planned to undergo several more rounds of chemotherapy.

'"[95] In a December 2019 interview with ABC News, Trebek stated that he would begin looking at experimental treatments and chemotherapies and that despite periods of severe pain and depression, he was still in good enough physical condition to handle construction projects.

initially taped episodes without a studio audience, as protection from the COVID-19 pandemic; Trebek, because of both his age and his condition, was particularly at risk of death from the particular variant of SARS-CoV-2 circulating.

champions James Holzhauer, Brad Rutter, and Ken Jennings were chasers, host Sara Haines paid tribute to Trebek at the start of the show.

crew became involved with the United Service Organizations in 1995, appearing on several military bases throughout the world, both in an attempt to find contestants and as a morale booster for the troops.

[128] While genuinely supportive of the cause throughout his life, Trebek has said that he believes he initially got involved with the UNCF in the 1980s because — due to the afro, mustache and "very dark tan" that he sported at the time — he was often confused for being a Black man and so was invited to take part in the organization's telethons.

[130] Trebek also donated 74 acres (30 hectares) of open land in the Hollywood Hills to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in 1998.

[137] In 2016, Trebek donated $5 million to the University of Ottawa to fund the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue, the objective of which is "to expose students to a wide range of diverse views, through speeches, public panels, events and lectures by University of Ottawa researchers, senior government officials and guests speakers from around the world.

"[138] His gifts to the university, which at the time totaled $7.5 million, also fund a Distinguished Speaker Series, which has included a presentation by Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee, introduced by Trebek.

[147] Previous recipients of this award include the author and anthropologist Wade Davis (2009), Peter Gzowski (1997), and Mary May Simon (1998).

[148] In 2016, Trebek was named the Honorary President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society;[149] in that capacity, he was present at the opening of the RCGS's new headquarters in 2018.

[156] On June 30, 2017, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada by then-Governor General David Johnston for "his iconic achievements in television and for his promotion of learning, notably as a champion for geographical literacy.

Postal Service announced that it will issue a first-class Forever stamp honoring Trebek, set for release on July 22, 2024.