Alex Trebek’s family honors the late ‘Jeopardy!’ icon with cancer research fund in his name

Alex Trebek’s legacy continues to live on.

The late “Jeopardy!” host’s family announced on Wednesday that they’ve teamed up with Katie Couric’s Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) foundation to launch The Alex Trebek Fund, a cancer research fund in his honor.

Launching this month to coincide with Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, the fund aims to “accelerate critical research with the goal of better treating pancreatic cancer, which has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers,” a news release sent to CNN on Wednesday said.

Trebek announced in March 2019 he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He died in November of 2020 at age 80.

The fund will support “patients and families impacted by this deadly disease” and has already received over $1 million in contributions, according to the release.

It also noted that the fund will “honor and commemorate the legacy” of Trebek, who hosted “Jeopardy!” for over 36 years. “As a beloved national icon, who was watched in more than 20 million homes across America each week, Trebek will have a lasting impact through this collaborative fund.”

“Alex knew that knowledge equaled power. He was a man that really loved to know things and stayed very curious,” his wife Jean Trebek said in a statement Wednesday.

She added that the Alex Trebek Fund is “a way for the community that loved him to put resources directly into the hands of scientists working tirelessly to fight a disease shrouded by many unknowns.”

In a video released on Wednesday through SU2C, Alex Trebek’s daughter Emily Trebek said she hopes that “all of the fans and community of ‘Jeopardy!’ really can lean in and show support for this.”

She added that the “Jeopardy!” community “showed so much support for my dad when he was going through his cancer treatments.”

Information on the Alex Trebek fund can be found here.

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