Alex Trebek’s Son Matt Shares the Item He Kept to Remember Him

Alex Trebek’s son Matt is opening up about the one piece of clothing that he kept that was his father’s after his passing. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he detailed some of the special items his dad use to wear on and off-screen. However, there is one item that he considers to be the “most important.”

“I kept a tie that my mom had given my dad,” Matt revealed. “As far as clothing goes, that was probably the most important item. Almost everything from Jeopardy! went to The Doe Fund, and now we just have his closet at home here. We’ll still sort through those [items], but for right now, those are kind of staying put.” His son admitted that like the rest of the world, he grew up watching his father on television and got use to seeing him the way he was presented on-screen.

“I grew up watching him on TV and seeing him dressed up,” he detailed. “That was one way that I obviously viewed him. And then being with him around the house, he was very casual, dressed down a lot. He did a lot of work around the house, so most of his [clothes], it would be jeans and a T-shirt. A lot of the jeans and T-shirts had holes in them. Completely different than how he was on TV.”

The iconic host died at the age of 80 following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer in November 2020. Representatives for Trebek at the time were the ones to confirm the sad news via Twitter. He reportedly passed away at his home and was surrounded by family and friends. The Canadian-born host was battling with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer since March 2019, but was still able to host the popular game show. Since his passing, his son has been donating his Jeopardy! suits to The Doe Fund which is an organization that helps battle homelessness, incarceration and recidivism.

“Rocky Schmidt, who was one of the producers on Jeopardy! and one of my dad’s very best friends asked, ‘Where should we donate them to?’” he recalled. “I knew The Doe Fund [from] working in Harlem at a restaurant. They have another location that’s not too far away. I think that the work they do, and the people that work for The Doe Fund, are really great, amazing people. So it kind of all made sense.”