Feb. 17, 2021 – Rush Limbaugh, a popular, controversial, and influential talk radio host and conservative commentator for decades, died Wednesday, according to a family declaration.
He was 70 years old.
His death comes after a stage IV lung cancer diagnosis announced in October.
On February 3, 2020, Limbaugh announced on his broadcast that he was being treated for episodes of shortness of breath. “The result is that I was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer,” Limbaugh said during a live broadcast. He added, “There will be days when I can’t be here because I’m undergoing treatment or responding to treatment.”
The following day, when Limbaugh attended the State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump unannounced presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Limbaugh announced October 20 that his Stage IV cancer had become incurable and doctors had found new growth.
In late 2020, on its last broadcast of the year, Limbaugh thanked its listeners and supporters.
“I didn’t expect to be alive today,” he said, according to Fox News. “I didn’t expect to make it to October and then to November and then to December. And yet I have some problems here and now, but I feel pretty good today.”
He is survived by Kathryn Adams Limbaugh, his wife.
“Rush has encouraged so many of us to think for ourselves. Learn and lead. He often said it doesn’t matter where you started or what you look like, as Americans we all have endless possibilities like nowhere else in the world, “she said as she announced the death of her husband on his radio show on Wednesday. “From today on there will be a tremendous void in our lives and on the radio.”
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born on January 12, 1951 in Cape Girardeau, MO. After two semesters, he left Southeast Missouri State University to pursue a career on radio.
He worked as a disc jockey for broadcasters in Pittsburgh and Kansas City, but found success when he was hired in 1984 to replace confrontational radio host Morton Downey Jr. for KFBK in Sacramento.
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