Rush Limbaugh, the influential conservative radio host, died of complications from lung cancer, his wife Kathryn announced on her radio show on Wednesday. He was 70 years old.
“It is with deep sadness, I must share with you directly, that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer“, she said.” As many of you know, losing a loved one is terribly difficult, especially when that loved one is bigger than life. Rush will forever be the greatest of all time. “
“Despite being one of the most recognized powerful people in the world, Rush has never allowed success to change his core or beliefs,” she added. “He was polite and respectful to everyone he met.”
Last February, Limbaugh broke the news of his cancer diagnosis to listeners. “I can’t help feeling that I’m disappointing everyone with this. But the result is that I was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer,” he said at the time.
Just a day later, former President Donald Trump awarded he with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s greatest civil honor. Mr. Trump thanked Limbaugh for his “decades of tireless devotion” to the nation.
Patrick Semansky / AP
The radio announcer found common ground with Trump, who was known for his large media presence and controversial comments, long before his presidency. Before the 2016 election, Limbaugh treated the former president as a serious candidate, expanding his platform to his millions of listeners. He praised Trump for his bombastic and “smart” media strategy.
During the Trump administration, Limbaugh used his radio program to express support for some of Trump’s most controversial political decisions.
Limbaugh, a native of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, began his radio career at age 16. After progressing through the stations, he went from being a disc jockey to a radio host, tempering his broadcasts with sound effects and quick words, something different from most broadcasts. Although he left radio for a short while while struggling to gain wide approval, he launched his self-titled radio program in 1988, which quickly became one of the most popular conservative talk shows.
Limbaugh was the winner of several broadcast awards, including entry into the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
Limbaugh made headlines for his controversial comments and was routinely accused of intolerance, sexism and racism for his fiery comments. Over the years, he offered several apologies for accusing Michael J. Fox of exaggerating his Parkinson’s symptoms by calling a law school student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” and for promoting the false theory that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States
Limbaugh was also a heavy smoker who liked cigars. He always claimed that the medical risks of smoking and secondhand smoke were false and were suppressed by health authorities.
In a 1991 interview with “60 minutes, “Limbaugh acknowledged that others called him sexist and homophobic, which he denied.” I am none of those things. I am simply someone who sees life’s events and comments on them. I have my own version of what is right and wrong. “