Jerry Springer, former US talk show legend, dies at 79

Jerry Springer, a former talk show host and one-time mayor of the city of Cincinnati, has died at the age of 79, Jene Galvin, a family spokesperson and a friend of Springer's, said in a statement.

Galvin said Springer died at home in suburban Chicago after a brief illness.

"Jerry's ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word," Galvin said.

"He's irreplaceable and his loss hurts immensely, but memories of his intellect, heart and humor will live on."

The Jerry Springer Show

Springer's daytime talk show was synonymous with lurid drama, and often had his guests shouting, cursing or throwing chairs.

The show, which started in 1991, ran for 4,000 episodes over 27 years as it became a favorite American guilty pleasure. 

In the late 1990s, Springer defended the disgust against his show, saying "television does not and must not create values, it's merely a picture of all that's out there — the good, the bad, the ugly."

During its peak, the show topped daytime TV ratings in the US, beating out even Oprah Winfrey's show.

Jerry Springer's political career

Springer, the son of Jewish German immigrants, studied political science and had a law degree. 

He served as the mayor of Cincinnati, in the US Midwest state of Ohio, in 1977.

He was considering running for governor of Ohio as recently as 2017, but later announced on his podcast that he would not seek the position.

Tributes to Jerry Springer

The Cincinnati Enquirer daily cited former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland as saying that Springer was a "wonderfully bright man."

"He had a certain amount of baggage but he was a wonderfully bright man," Strickland said.

"A lot of people judge him based on his program. It was reprehensible and even he acknowledged that," he said. "Even in the midst of that, he was never judgmental of other people. He felt that people should be able to live their lives."

fb,sdi/wd (AP, Reuters)