Gerald Norman Springer, known more popularly as American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician Jerry Springer has died. He was 79 years old. A family spokesperson says Jerry was battling a “brief illness.” Our sources tell us it was pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed a few months ago, and this week he took a turn for the worse. The spokesperson says he died Thursday morning, peacefully at his home in the Chicago area. Springer served as the 56th Mayor of Cincinnati from 1977 to 1978. He was best known for hosting the tabloid talk show Jerry Springer between September 30, 1991, and July 26, 2018, and debuting the Jerry Springer Podcast in 2015. From 2007 to 2008, Springer hosted America’s Got Talent, and from September 2019 until 2022, Springer hosted the courtroom show Judge Jerry.

He was born in London during World War 2, to ere German-Jewish refugee Parents who escaped from Landsberg an der Warthe, Prussia (present day Poland). His family were in concentration camps and both his maternal and paternal died while still in camps. His parents migrated to the US with 4 year old Jerry, settling in Queens. Jerry earned a B.A. degree from Tulane University in 1965, majoring in political science. He earned a J.D. degree from Northwestern University in 1968. Springer became a political campaign adviser to Democrat Robert F. Kennedy.Following Kennedy’s assassination, he began practicing law at the Cincinnati law firm of Frost & Jacobs, now Frost Brown Todd. He was also in the Army Reserves.

Before TV, he was a politician who ran a failed campaign for U.S. Congress in 1970, got elected to Cincinnati’s City Council in 1971 … and became the city’s mayor in 1977. He served one term. But, Springer became a worldwide sensation with his tv show  which debuted in 1991. Most people won’t remember this, but when he started Jerry’s show focused on political issues. Of course, it eventually became the exact opposite and a ratings smash. he show became more successful as it became targeted toward tabloidish sensationalism. Guests were everyday people confronted on a television stage by a spouse or family member’s adultery, homosexuality, prostitution, transvestism, hate group membership, or other controversial situations.

Springer hosted America’s Got Talent on NBC for its second and third seasons, replacing Regis PhilbinHe’s survived by his daughter Katie Springer and his older sister Evelyn.