Alex Trebek’s Children Emily and Matthew: What to Know

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has died at the age of 80 following a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Jean Currivan-Trebek, and three children, Matthew and Emily, whom he shared with Currivan-Trebek, and Nicky, the daughter of his ex-wife Elaine Trebek Kares, whom he adopted. Months before his passing, Trebek’s wife wrote a blog post for Insidewink in which she and her children shared their fondest memories of the iconic television star.

Trebek married Currivan-Trebek in 1990. That same year, the couple welcomed their first child together, Matthew. Trebek’s son is the owner of several restaurants in Harlem, New York including Oso, Lucille’s Coffee and Cocktails, and Pizza by Lucille’s. Three years later, Trebek and Currivan-Trebek welcomed their daughter Emily. The Jeopardy! host’s daughter works in the real estate industry, as she flips houses. In Currivan-Trebek’s essay about Trebek’s role as a father, which was published shortly before Father’s Day, the game show host’s children opened up about the traits that they believed that they shared with Trebek. As for Emily, she said that she thinks that she inherited her father’s Type-A perfection genes.

“My Dad and I are both pretty Type-A individuals … I think I got a lot of my organizational, financial and perfectionistic traits from him,” Emily said. “He also has always been into construction so I think that rubbed off on me too.” Matthew shared that both he and his father have the same ability to open up about their true feelings. He explained, “We both tend to be discerning when it comes to sharing our feelings and I think we’re both very capable in taking care of most household repairs.” Elsewhere in the essay, Trebek’s children shared their fondest memories of their father, with both Emily and Matthew sharing a memory from their childhood that they’ll always hold dear to their hearts.

“My favorite memory would be all of the times we spent at our Lake House in Paso Robles,” Emily said. “My dad would be on the jet ski and would take us for rides in the innertube.” Matthew added his own fond memory, sharing, “There are many good memories, but I really loved it when my Dad would come to all of my paintball tournaments with me… although it was a very unique sport, he still got very enthusiastic about watching and learning the game.” As previously mentioned, the beloved, longtime host of Jeopardy! passed away after a battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Jeopardy! will continue to air new episodes with Trebek as the host through Dec. 25.