Jerry Springer Has Died At The Age Of 79

Jerry Springer, host of one of the ‘90s most controversial daytime talk shows full of violent outburst and bleeped-out profanity, has died at the age of 79. Springer had not only been a staple on TVs across the country for decades, he was also a father to one daughter, Katie.

Springer’s publicist Linda Shafran told NBC News that Springer passed away in his Chicago-area home on April 27. TMZ reports that Springer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few months ago and his illness “took a turn for the worse” this week.

Jerry Springer had one daughter with his ex-wife Micki Velton.

Springer welcomed his only child, daughter Katie Springer, in 1976 with his ex-wife Micki Velton. Springer and Velton were married for 21 years when they divorced in 1994.

While Springer’s celebrity status skyrocketed during The Jerry Springer Show’s run on TV from 1991 to 2018, then going on to host America's Got Talent and Judge Jerry, his family has kept a much more low profile. Springer’s daughter, now 47, was reportedly born blind in and deaf and now works as a special needs teacher in Chicago.

Springer was born in England and moved to the United States with his parents when he was a young child.

Springer was born in 1944 in Highgate London to his parents, Jewish refugees Margot Kallmann and Richard Springer. When he was 4 or 5 years old, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. As an adult, he graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1965 and then went on to receive a law degree from Northwestern University in Chicago in 1968. Before he rose to fame on TV, Springer was a politician and served as the mayor of Cincinnati from 1977 to 1978.

The Jerry Springer Show ended in 2018 after 27 years on air.

After airing thousands of episodes and attracting millions of viewers each day, Springer’s tabloid talk show ended in 2018. In an interview with TODAY in 2020, Springer said he wouldn’t change anything about his show and said he found the format “much more democratic than what we normally do in the media.”

“It was the first time we saw regular people on television,” Springer said. “When people criticize the show, if you’re honest about it, they’re not criticizing what they’re talking about because celebrities will do the exact same thing. Celebrities will go on the late night shows and will talk about who they’ve slept with, what their lives have been like, what drugs they’ve been using, what misbehavior they’ve had. And we can’t buy their albums quickly enough and we can’t go to their movies quickly enough.”

“We’re all alike,” Springer continued. “These people are coming on television when they choose to, completely voluntary, and they talk about what’s going on in their life.”