When my husband told me today that Merv Griffin had died, I was running on my treadmill, doing my part to pound out any chance that cancer will pay me a return visit. On my MP3 player the song Bad Day by Daniel Powter was blaring. Sweating, halfway through my second mile and feeling quite strong, I heard the words -- "Did you hear Merv Griffin died?" No, I had not yet heard. All I was hearing were these lyrics:
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Today may have been a bad day for Mr. Griffin. If he was tired of fighting cancer -- for a second time -- it may have been a good day. Regardless, I ran an extra mile this afternoon for the man who created and produced the TV game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, the man whose late afternoon talk show played loudly when I was a child in the living room of my grandparents house, the man I will memorialize in my mind along with all others who have lost their lives to cancer.
Merv Griffin died today of prostate cancer, shortly after being hospitalized for a recurrence of the disease and following his July announcement that this round of cancer had been discovered during a routine examination. He was 82.
Griffin is survived by his son, Anthony (from Griffin's marriage to Julann Elizabeth Wright, which ended in divorce in 1973), a daughter-in-law Tricia, and two grandchildren, Farah and Donovan Mervyn.
1. Earlier today, there was an apt inquiry (from a Canadian) regarding Griffin's initial CaP treatment and his initial staging. Was there ever a response?
Posted at 9:22AM on Aug 14th 2007 by ed judy