How did Phil Donahue pass away?

American writer and film producer Phillip John Donahue has died peacefully following a long illness at the age of 88.

The Emmy-winning ‘Donahue’ talk show host and media personality breathed her last on Sunday, his family announced in a statement on Monday, reports media

By tackling controversial issues in front of a live audience, Phil Donahue flipped the script for daytime television.

Renowned “King of Daytime Talk” Phil Donahue was most famous as he created and hosted the Phil Donahue Show.

The family said the groundbreaking TV talk show journalist died when his family members –his wife actress Marlo Thomas [44], “his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever, Charlie” were present.

Donahue’s family requested his fans to donate to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue or Notre Dame Scholarship Fund in place of flowers.

Donahue was born on December 21, 1935, and grew up in Cleveland. He started his career in talk radio and television in the late 1950s.

The presenter in 1967 started his eponymous talk show that gained credibility and acclaim for tackling controversial topics and taking viewers behind bars for a weeklong series at the Ohio State Penitentiary in 1971.

Single issues, including child abuse in the Catholic Church, feminism and race relations, were devoted to its hour-long broadcast on The Phil Donahue Show.

The talk show was the first to allow audience members to ask guests questions.

He relocated the show to Chicago in 1974 and changed its name to Donahue while innovating the daytime format. 

Then, the show moved to New York City in January 1985.

Donahue continued to break new ground in daytime TV, musicians, athletes and actors, interviewing politicians and activists, while broadcasting live from 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

It was the film producer who was the pioneering host to tape five episodes in the Soviet Union in January 1987.

Donahue interviewed Nelson Mandela in his first appearance on a talk show via satellite from Zambia in March 1990.