Phil Donahue Dead at 88: Longtime Talk Show Host Suffered ‘Long Illness’

Legendary talk show host Phil Donahue has died at age 88.

News of Donahue’s death broke on Monday, August 19, with multiple outlets confirming that The Phil Donahue Show host "passed away peacefully following a long illness,” according to a statement shared by his family.

Donahue was surrounded by his wife of 44 years, veteran TV and film actress Marlo Thomas , along with "his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie."

The family asked that in lieu of flowers, friends and fans make a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund.

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Donahue became a household name in the daytime talk show space in November 1967 when The Phil Donahue Show premiered on a local news network in Dayton, Ohio. Initially, the show was only broadcast on stations owned by CBS. However, it eventually achieved nationwide syndication in1974 and moved to Chicago. Following a decade of success, The Phil Donahue Show moved to New York City in 1984 where it was filmed at the now-iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza studio. The show came to an end in September 1996 following a 29 year run and over 7,000 episodes.

Donahue, however, did not stay in retirement for long. He returned to television in 2002 to host Donahue on MSNBC. The short-lived show was canceled by February of the following year.

Aside from his prolific talk show career, Donahue was also known for his longtime relationship with wife Thomas, 86, whom he married in 1980. She was by his side earlier this year when Donahue was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May by President Joe Biden .

At the time, Thomas — the star of '60s sitcom That Girl — joked that she and Donahue don’t have an awards room in their home — even though they probably should.

“We don’t have a trophy room even though we could probably use one for Phil — the man won 20 Emmys,” Thomas quipped to People at the time. ”But we keep our awards in our own studies. The medals, however, are different. I had mine framed, and I can’t wait to frame Phil’s and hang it right next to it.”

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He added: “His and hers medals, side by side. In a way, it’s kinda romantic.”

After receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Donahue also looked back at his long career with the publication.

“I do miss it occasionally,” he said of his TV career. “Sometimes I’ll shout my question to a guest on the screen and hope they’ll somehow hear me. But to be honest, even though the medium has changed a bit — the sets are fancier, the productions are slicker, and the hosts are thankfully more diverse — all of the talk shows still cleave to the one thing that laid at the foundation of the 7,000 episodes I taped, and that’s curiosity.”

Donahue explained, “I still believe that, despite our differences, we’re all part of this sprawling global family, and we just need to get to know each other, so that we can share the world together.”