ululate!

Long-time Jeopardy game-show host Alex Trebek has succumbed to pancreatic cancer.  Trebek was 80.  I remember first wondering about Trebek's nationality when I heard him pronouncing French words on Jeopardy with accuracy, but with a slightly "off" twist.  The twist (which Canadians would object is normal, not "off") came from his having learned French in Canada, where the québecois dialect reigns supreme.  In fact, Trebek was a dual citizen of both the US and Canada.  He came out only last year to announce a diagnosis of Stage IV pancreatic cancer; I don't know how long he sat on the diagnosis before announcing it.  Prognosis for the cancer is generally grim:  five-year survival rates for the most common form of the cancer are around 6%, even with improvements in treatment.

I'll miss having Trebek around.  He was a masterful host for Jeopardy, an obviously knowledgeable man who was humble enough never to flaunt his knowledge in the contestants' faces.  Calm and composed, Trebek handled all sorts of whacky game-show situations with aplomb.  He also had a good sense of humor about himself, appearing in any number of self-parodic TV (and, I think, movie) scenarios.  His shtick was to appear scholarly but friendly, but I suspect that that's close to how he was in real life.  It's sad to see Trebek go, but as he said, he had lived a good and full life.  I'll consider myself lucky if I live much beyond 60, let alone to 80.  RIP, Mr. Trebek.  You were one of the good ones.