Phil Donahue FILE PHOTO: Phil Donahue attends the American Icon Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on May 19, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images) (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
By Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Talk show host Phil Donahue has died at the age of 88.
His family confirmed his death, saying he died at his home surrounded by family on Sunday night after a long illness, the “Today” show reported.
Donahue’s wife of 44 years, Marlo Thomas, his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie, were all at his home at the time of his death.
TMZ said Donahue hosted his talk show for 29 seasons. He met Thomas on his show when she was a guest. He had been divorced and was a single father with four sons. The couple married in May 1980, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Donahue was from Cleveland but got his big break in Dayton, Ohio. He first hosted an afternoon call-in talk show from 1963 through 1967 on WHIO Radio. He left the station after being frustrated not having a national reach and had been working as a salesman for E.F. MacDonald, a trading stamp company in the Ohio city, according to Variety.
He quickly returned to broadcasting in 1967 to start “The Phil Donahue Show,” which became nationally syndicated in 1970, WHIO reported. At its height it was on 200 different stations nationwide, Variety reported. He would go on to host more than 6,000 episodes, with the last show broadcasting on Sept. 13, 1996.
Over his career, Donahue had received nine Daytime Emmy awards and was nominated 21 times. He also had a primetime Emmy nomination for his show “Donahue and Kids.” He also was awarded a Peabody Award in 1981, according to Variety.
He also was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1993 and was honored by the organization with a lifetime achievement award in 1996.
Donahue received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May, WHIO reported.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship fund.
Through the years Phil Donahue and Dolly Parton at the Phil Donahue Show at WGN Television in Chicago, Illinois, April 30, 1977. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
Through the years Portrait of American talk show host and media personality Phil Donahue as he sits in an audience chair on the set of his program, 'The Phil Donahue Show,' at the WGN studios, Chicago, Illinois, December 1978. (Photo by Steve Kagan/Getty Images) (Steve Kagan/Getty Images)
Through the years Each day some 200 women are seated on metal chairs in the Donahue studio to see and participate in the show. There is a live telephone on the set and the aisles are wide so Phil can go into the audience to field impromptu questions—as he is doing here. Only the questions called in by telephone are pre-screened by an off-stage producer. Donahue firmly declares: “I’m for the women’s movement. I’m fascinated by it. I think it is good for us, and I don’t think it’s going to go away.” (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
Through the years Emmy award-winning talk show host Phil Donahue, 41, after ten years on the air. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
Through the years THE TODAY SHOW -- Pictured: (l-r) Co-host Phil Donahue, co-anchor Jane Pauley, co-anchor Tom Brokaw (Photo by Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) (NBC NewsWire/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Ge)
Through the years Arriving in his cinderblock studio at WGN-TV Phil Donahue bones up for his morning program with a book by the author who will be on his show, Nancy Chodorow, who wrote “the Reproduction of Mothering—Psychoanalysis and the Sociology of Gender.” The bronze cowboy figure on the desk was a gift from an Oklahoma admirer of the award-winning broadcast journalist. Donahue stays dressed in jeans and plaid work shirt until almost show time. (Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
Through the years American talk show host Phil Donahue, wearing a beige three-piece suit with a white shirt and a diagonally striped brown tie, in the 6th Daytime Emmy Awards press room, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, 17th May 1979. 'The Phil Donahue Show' won the 'Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Talk, Service or Variety Series', 'Outstanding Individual Direction for a Variety Program' and 'Outstanding Talk, Service or Variety Series' awards at the ceremony. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Through the years Unspecified: ABC News correspondent Phil Donahue promotional photo. (Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) (Walt Disney Television Photo Arc/Disney General Entertainment Con)
Through the years Unspecified: ABC News correspondent Phil Donahue promotional photo. (Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) (Walt Disney Television Photo Arc/Disney General Entertainment Con)
Through the years NEW YORK - OCTOBER 29: Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas attend the 15th annual Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project's Hulaween at The Waldorf Astoria on October 29, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images) (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Phil Donahue attends the 2014 Hulaween Gala benefiting New York Restoration Project at The Waldorf=Astoria on October 31, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images) (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 12: Actress Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue attend the opening night after party for "Clever Little Lies" at Bea Restaurant & Bar on October 12, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images) (Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 11: Phil Donahue attends the "Mike Nichols: American Masters" world premiere at The Paley Center for Media on January 11, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 05: Phil Donahue attends at the grand opening of The SAG-AFTRA Foundation Robin Williams Center on October 5, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 10: Phil Donahue attends "The Terms Of My Surrender" Broadway Opening Night at Belasco Theatre on August 10, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images) (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Through the years NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 05: Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas attend Joseph Fioretti exhibition at The National Arts Club on October 05, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Getty Images for National Arts Club) (Sean Zanni/Getty Images for National Arts C)
Through the years WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 3: U.S. President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Daytime television pioneer Phil Donahue during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on May 3, 2024 in Washington, DC. President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, to 19 individuals including political leaders, civil rights icons and other influential cultural icons. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)