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Jerry Springer was celebrated today in a memorial service, which featured speeches from his closest friends and family and began with one familiar and famous chant: ‘Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!’
Hundreds of people gathered at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati on Friday to commemorate the media icon, in a proceeding that began at noon and broadcasted live on TV as well as streamed on Springer’s website.
Around 550 free tickets were made available the general public.
At the event, Springer remembered Springer as a natural performer, a family man, and someone who never lost sight of what was important, no matter how successful he became.
Cincinnati Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney kicked off the program with the ‘Jerry’ cheer and declared today ‘Jerry Springer Day,’ according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Hundreds of people gathered at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati on Friday to commemorate the media icon, in a proceeding that began at noon and was broadcasted live on TV
Loved ones, local celebrities and city leaders came together to honor the former Cincinnati mayor who died earlier this week and recalled personal memories of the media icon
The memorial featured speeches from his closest friends and family and began with one familiar and famous chant: ‘Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!’
Springer became famous as host of the popular ‘Jerry Springer Show’ which ran from 1991 to 2018, but friends say he never forgot who he was or where he came from.
It first focused on political issues, but it became a worldwide sensation after wild guests would fight on live TV. The audience would always cheer, ‘Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!’
Before Springer’s TV success, he served one term as Cincinnati’s mayor in 1977.
Longtime friend Jene Galvin said Springer considered his show ‘silly’ but he remained serious and passionate about causes he believed in.
‘Television and star quality never changed jerry it merely revealed the character deeply rooted in his DNA,’ he said. ‘The overarching thing of all of it was his heart.
‘He made us laugh until it hurt and he made us think until we cared,’ he added.
Springer’s younger sister, Evelyn Strauch, described her brother as the ‘bright lighy’ of her family – humorous intelligent compassionate and humble.
Strauch spoke about her first memory of her brother – seeing him in a baby carriage, tied to a lone tree on a hilltop in Oxford, England, next door to a war camp.
Springer’s parents had escaped the Nazis in World War II and could not get into United States, so Jerry and Evelyn were born in the United Kingdom.
She said he a natural knack for show biz and his family predicted he would one day be a star.
One incident in particular stood out – when Jerry would stand on a table in the hallways and start pontificating, giving speeches to all those who walked by.
Longtime friend Jene Galvin said Springer considered his show ‘silly’ but he remained serious and passionate about causes he believed in
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Springer’s younger sister, Evelyn Strauch (pictured) described her brother as the ‘bright lighy’ of her family – humorous intelligent compassionate and humble
He could turn a traffic jam into a concert. His first audience, she recalls, was when a young Springer got out of his family’s car, climbed on top of the roof and started singing. Other drivers soon got out to listen.
That was his first audience, she said, the rest is history.
Strauch, who helped her brother with his city council campaign in the 1970’s, was not surprised he decided to take the politics route.
She shared a humorous story about the time she stood in the cold for hours greeting voters. Springer and her husband picked her up hours later and told her they had decided to skip campaigning and get coffee instead. It was too cold, they said.
‘That was the last time I campaigned for my brother,’ she said laughing.
Springer found his calling when he went from politics to TV, she said. His signature sign-off – ‘Take care of yourself, and each other’ – embodied his beliefs about how to treat others.
Cincinnati Rabbi Sandford Kopnick then took the stage, remembering Springer’s last moments and quoting him saying: ‘I can’t think of a better life, with better people.’
Former Mayor Charlie Luken and friend of decades, said his controversial TV show was not all there was to Springer and people who only knew him from that didn’t really know him.
‘I don’t think people outside of Cincinnati realize what he meant to Cincinnati,’ Luken said.
Springer hosted the smash hit ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ for 27 years, becoming America’s guilty pleasure for wild and raucous TV moments
Springer was born in February 1944, in Highgate tube station which his parents were using as a bomb shelter
Tim Burke, the county’s former Democratic Party chairman knew springer as a genrous friend who would donate time and money to Before going into the celebration this morning, Burke pulled out a note Springer had written him on hotel stationary.
‘Hey Tim,’ it read. ‘I’ll do another $15,000 in the fall. Keep plugging!’
As a folk music lover, the memorial featured live musical performances with at least 35 performers on stage playing some of Springer’s favorite songs .
Some of the songs include: ‘This Land is Your Land,’ ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and other folk classics. It also featured video performance by Noel Paul Stookey, the ‘Paul’ of folk group Peter, Paul and Mary.
The goal is to make the memorial the kind of party Springer would have wanted to attend. ‘The whole thing is intended to be a very upbeat celebration,’ said Jene Galvin, a family friend.
The memorial service ended when the audience came together, took the stage, guitars in hand, to sing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind.
Springer died at age 79 on April 27, 2023, just months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his family revealed.
They asked fans to make charitable donations in his name after the TV host passed away ‘peacefully’ at his home in Chicago after his health took a turn for the worse.
Tributes have flooded in for the ‘irreplaceable’ talent, with his family adding: ‘As he always said, take care of yourself, and each other’.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
