Longtime journalist and radio host Larry King has died. He was 87.
“With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,” read a post shared on King’s Twitter account Saturday, January 23, 2021. A cause of death was not given. King’s death comes weeks after he was hospitalized with COVID-19.
“For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster. Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the shows’ titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience,” the statement continued. “Whether he was interviewing a U.S. president, foreign leader, celebrity, scandal-ridden personage, or an everyman, Larry liked to ask short, direct, and uncomplicated questions. He believed considered questions usually provided the best answers and he was not wrong in that belief.”
“Larry’s interviews from his 25-year run on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live,’ and his Ora Media programs ‘Larry King Now,’ and ‘Politicking with Larry King’ are consistently referenced by media outlets around the world and remain part of the historical record of the late 20th and early 21st centuries,” the statement concluded. “Ora Media sends our condolences to his surviving children Larry, Jr., Chance, Canon and the entire King family. Funeral arrangements and a memorial service will be announced later in coordination with the King family, who ask for their privacy at this time.”
— Larry King (@kingsthings) January 23, 2021
The news of King’s hospitalization due to COVID-19 was reported on Jan. 2. “Larry has fought so many health issues in the last few years and he is fighting this one hard too, he’s a champ,” a source close to the King family told ABC News at the time.
His death comes five months after the deaths of two of his children in the summer of 2020: son Andy and daughter Chaia, who died within 23 days apart of each other.
Andy died suddenly of a heart attack on July 28. He was 65. Chaia died on Aug. 20, shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. She was 51.
“Both of them were good and kind souls and they will be greatly missed,” King wrote on Facebook at the time. “Losing them feels so out of order. No parent should have to bury a child.”
King shared daughter Chaia with his ex-wife Alene Akins. He adopted Andy, Akins’ son, from a previous relationship, after the two got married for the first time in 1961.
Source: People
