Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh, 70, has died of lung cancer. According to his family, Limbaugh passed on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021.
Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, announced his passing on his radio show Wednesday morning. Limbaugh had not made an appearance on his show for nearly two weeks.
“I know that I am most certainly not the Limbaugh that you tuned in to listen to today,” she said. “I, like you, very much wish Rush was behind this golden microphone right now, welcoming you to another exceptional three hours of broadcasting. … It is with profound sadness I must share with you directly that our beloved Rush, my wonderful husband, passed away this morning due to complications from lung cancer.
“Losing a loved one is terribly difficult, even more so when that loved one is larger than life,” she continued. “Rush will forever be the greatest of all time.”
Limbaugh, a Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, who massively influenced and transformed talk radio, was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in January of 2020. Limbaugh was a long-time cigar user and an advocate for tobacco use.
Throughout his career, Limbaugh’s outspoken conservative beliefs outraged those in the political community; however, his more than three decades behind the microphone pioneered a way for today’s Republican Party.
He started his journey as a broadcaster at the age of 20. He had just dropped out of Southeast Missouri State University when he was hired as a Top 40 DJ in western Pennsylvania.
After working several broadcasting jobs, which included some time as a Major League Baseball commentator, in 1984, he landed a talk show at KFBK in California.
Four years, later he stepped into the national spotlight when he joined WABC-AM in New York.
During his life, Limbaugh was honored in the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcaster Hall of Fame. He was a Number 1 New York Times bestselling author and a five-time winner of the National Association of Broadcaster Marconi Award for “Excellence in Syndicated and Network Broadcasting.”
In Dec. of 2016 Talkers Magazine estimated that Limbaugh’s show, The Rush Limbaugh Show, attracted a cumulative weekly audience of 15.5 million listeners, becoming the most-listened-to radio show in the United States. Limbaugh’s show was first syndicated in August of 1988.
Limbaugh is survived by his wife.
