Longtime talk show host, former WHIO anchor Phil Donahue dies at 88

DAYTON — Longtime talk show host and former WHIO anchor Phil Donahue has died. He was 88 years old.

Donahue passed away on Sunday evening following a long illness, TMZ reported.

>> Photos: Phil Donahue through the years

Donahue’s family said in a statement that he passed away “peacefully” at home surrounded by family, TODAY reported.

Donahue was the host of the ‘Phil Donahue Show’ that became nationally syndicated in 1970.

He hosted “Conversation Piece,” an afternoon call-in talk show, from 1963 to 1967 on WHIO Radio, according to a previous News Center 7 report.

>> RELATED COVERAGE: Former WHIO anchor to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Donahue left WHIO in 1967. The ‘Phil Donahue Show’ ended in 1996.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May of this year.

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Through the years Phil Donahue and Dolly Parton at the Phil Donahue Show at WGN Television in Chicago, Illinois, April 30, 1977. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

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