Jerry Springer’s Cause of Death Confirmed as Pancreatic Cancer: ‘His Illness Was Sudden’
Jerry Springer #JerrySpringer
Jerry Springer, Talk Show Icon and Former Cincinnati Mayor, Dead at 79
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The famed talk show is remembered as “a kind and generous person” who “never lost sight of his roots,” by his longtime rabbi, who visited him the week before he died
After Jerry Springer’s family shared that the daytime host had died early Thursday following a “brief illness,” PEOPLE has confirmed that Springer’s death was the result of cancer.
Family spokesperson and longtime friend Jean Galvin also told NBC News he died from pancreatic cancer.
Springer’s longtime friend and religious leader, Rabbi Sandford Kopnick of The Valley Temple in Cincinnati, told PEOPLE that the Jerry Springer Show host’s “illness was sudden.”
“He hasn’t been sick for a long time,” Rabbi Kopnick shared of Springer, 79, whom he visited just last week. “He died of cancer, and he didn’t have cancer for very long.”
Related:Jerry Springer’s Famous Friends and Fans React to His Death: ‘Smartest, Most Generous, Kindest Person’
Describing the former Cincinnati mayor’s overall nature, Kopnick said that Springer “was a kind and generous person who was not really best pictured on his television show.”
“There was much more to him than The Jerry Springer Show,” he continued. “He was very, very smart. He was a remarkable family man, and he was somebody who understood what it means to pay it forward.”
Kopnick added, “He always knew his good fortune. He never took it for granted. When he certainly could have moved on to another congregation after I arrived in this one, not only did he stay, but he did what he could to make it thrive.”
Related:Jerry Springer’s Life in Photos
Springer was also always willing to assist the congregation, “whether it was to help emcee an interfaith dialogue, or meet with our high school kids, or be the featured speaker at a men’s club event,” Kopnick added.
“He never said no. He may have needed to figure out how to schedule it, but he never said no,” he explained. “He wasn’t really a resident of Cincinnati other than when he was contemplating running for office. So as a result, it always meant that he always, at his expense, would fly in for a day or two, and he was just so kind and so generous and very unassuming.”
“He never lost sight of his roots,” he continued. “He understood the great fortune that his family had in escaping Germany and ending up in England and then moving here.”
Related:Jerry Springer Said He Hoped to Be Working Until Age 104: ‘I’m Lucky’
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Springer was best known for hosting 27 seasons of his syndicated talk show, and he also headlined the reality series Judge Jerry for three seasons and briefly served as a judge on America’s Got Talent.
He was also the 56th mayor of Cincinnati in the 1970s before pursuing a career in media.
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