Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh dies at 70 [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Rush Limbaugh died due to throat cancer on Wednesday morning, as announced by his wife Kathryn.
• Limbaugh learned about his cancer diagnosis in January 2020 and shared his battle with his listeners in October.
• He was known as a fierce critic of the Democrats and a pro-Trump advocate.

Renowned political commentator and radio host Rush Limbaugh has died due to throat cancer. He was 70.

Limbaugh’s wife Kathryn made the announcement of his passing on his radio show Wednesday morning.

Limbaugh found out about his Stage IV lung cancer in January 2020. Then he told his listeners last October that his illness was going in the “wrong direction” as he was dying.

Several days following his cancer diagnosis revelation last year, President Donald Trump gave Limbaugh the presidential medal of freedom in his final State of the Union address. The former president described the radio titan as the “greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet,” while also admitting that his predicament.

“Thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country,” Trump said.

“In a nutshell, there are lots of ups and downs in this particular illness. And it can feel like a roller coaster at times that you can’t get off of,” he said last October as he shared his fight against cancer. 

“And again, I want to stress here that I know countless numbers of you are experiencing the same thing. If it isn’t lung cancer, it’s some kind of cancer. If it isn’t you, it’s somebody really close to you. If it isn’t an illness, it’s something.” 

During his final show last year, Limbaugh said that he was not anticipating to remain alive as he said that he was “extremely fortunate and lucky” to endure his cancer battle. He noted that having more days to live enabled him to listen to some of the most “wonderful, nice things” people around him had to say.

Limbaugh was a well-known critic of the Democrats and had spent his last years being a staunch loyalist to Trump.

According to Biography.com, Limbaugh would impersonate himself as a DJ during his childhood days. In high school, he made his first radio stint.

Limbaugh started the “Rush Limbaugh Show” in 1988 as it became the most ‘listened-to’ radio show in the US over the last 33 years.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993, and in the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1998.

Per Nielsen, Limbaugh had a solid audience of around 15.5 million listeners weekly.

The radio host did not have any children. He is survived by his fourth wife Kathryn.

Source: Newsweek