Alex Trebek, the neighborly “Jeopardy!” host with all of the correct answers and encouragement passed away over the weekend. He was 80 years old.

Last year, in March 2019, Trebek revealed he had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. With this news came an outpour of support from fans who recognized Trebek as the decades-long host of the classic game show that gives contestants answers first, so that they can supply the question.

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“I’m going to fight this and I’m going to keep working,” he said at the time of his diagnosis reveal and returned to work just a week later.

In the months leading up to his death, Trebek revealed that he was prepared to say goodbye.

Trebek passed away on Sunday after over a year-long battle with stage four pancreatic cancer.

Speaking during ABC’s “What Is Jeopardy?” the host revealed that he had already planned his goodbye to the trivia show that he had hosted since 1984.

“I have learned something in the past year and it’s this: We don’t know when we’re going to die,” Trebek explained at the time. “Because of the cancer diagnosis, it’s no longer an open-ended life, it’s a closed-ended life because of the terrible … survival rates of pancreatic cancer… I’ve kind of, in my mind, rehearsed it already, and what I would do on that day is tell the director, ‘Time the showdown to leave me 30 seconds at the end. That’s all I want,'” he said in January during ABC’s What Is Jeopardy? special. “And I will say my goodbyes and I will tell people: ‘Don’t ask me who’s going to replace me because I have no say whatsoever. But I’m sure that if you give them the same love and attention and respect that you have shown me … then they will be a success and the show will continue being a success.'”O

Of his final words, Trebek said that he would say “‘And until we meet again, God bless you and goodbye.’”

On Wednesday, Trebek’s wife, Jean Currivan Trebek thanked fans for their support in the wake of her husband’s passing.

In a post to her Instagram Jean wrote a heartfelt post telling fans “My family and I sincerely thank you all for your compassionate messages and generosity.”

“Your expressions have truly touched our hearts. Thank you so very, very much,” she went onto write. “Many Blessings to all, Jean Trebek.”

Jean shared a post with a photo of the couple on their wedding day that featured Trebek wearing a white suit and Jean in a pillbox hat. In the image Trebek can be seen slipping a ring on Jean’s finger.

In January, Trebek spoke abouthis decades-long relationship with Jean in an interview with People saying that he was “pretty satisfied with my life.”

“But my wife Jean and I have been together almost 29 years, and I was thinking about President Bush when he died, and all the comments about his life about what a nice guy he is, and how he and his wife had been together 73 years. I thought, oh my gosh … if I’d just met Jean in my 20s we could have had a longer life together,” Trebek explained before adding.He jokingly added, “I guess if I’d met her when I was in my 20s she wouldn’t have been born yet. But hey, 29 years is pretty good!”

Trebek’s death was confirmed on Sunday but new episodes of the show will continue to air through Dec. 25.

Trebek’s final day in the “Jeopardy!” studio was ten days before his death on Oct. 29.

In a statement about his death, the show explained that they were “saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends.”

“Today we lost a legend and a beloved member of the Sony Pictures family,” Sony Pictures Television said in a separate statement. “For 37 amazing years, Alex Trebek was that comforting voice, that moment of escape and entertainment at the end of a long, hard day for millions of people around the world.”

Soon after the COVID-19 pandemic started earlier this year, production on the ABC game show paused but resumed over the summer.

Trebek returned for filming and told The New York Times at the time that shooting the show was livening. “Oddly enough, when we started taping I suddenly started to regain my strength,” he said. “It’s the strangest thing. It is some kind of an elixir.”