The legendary Regis Philbin, dead of natural causes at the age of 88

[kevinb1994]

The legendary Regis Philbin died of natural causes yesterday at the age of 88. His direct predecessor was Steve Allen (Regis Philbin got his start in 1955 on Tonight Starring Steve Allen (a late-night talk show that started in June 1953 as The Steve Allen Show, upon Allen's departure from WCBS-TV, where the legendary host had first tried to establish his own image with an earlier version of The Steve Allen Show that had premiered as a local, late-morning New York talk/variety television program on Christmas Day, 1950, which would become a thirty-minute, early-evening New York talk/variety television program, until it was canceled in 1952; this second edition of Allen's local New York talk/variety television program originally ran for approx. 40 minutes as a local, late-night New York talk/variety television program, on what was once known as WNBT; later, this station would be given the call sign letters WRCA-TV, followed by the memorable WNBC-TV; it has only been known as simply WNBC since 1992), joining NBC at the time when their New York flagship TV station had already been rebranded as WRCA-TV (the switch was made the prior year)).

[Stephane Dumas]

We had lost a lot of celebrities last week-end, Regis Philbin, John Saxon, Olivia de Havilland (last surviving cast member of Gone with the Wind and Robin Hood), Peter Green who was the co-founder of the band Fleetwood Mac and former hockey star Eddie Shack.

[Max Rockatansky]

Cardiovascular Disease was the actual cause of death, I've never been a fan of the term "natural causes."

[wxfree]

Cardiovascular Disease was the actual cause of death, I've never been a fan of the term "natural causes."

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death, the condition that resulted in him dying.  "Natural causes" is the manner of death, meaning that he wasn't murdered, didn't have an accident or overdose, or otherwise die from an outside cause.  Death by natural causes is a result of problems inside the body.  It could include infections or other problems caused by outside sources, such as obesity or smoking, because what causes the death isn't the act of eating too much or smoking, but is the disease that the behavior brought about, which is internal.  Manner of death is a very broad term, and there are only a few of them, natural, homicide, and accident.  They can include specialized categories, such as suicide (self-homicide), judicially ordered execution (legal homicide), acts of war or terrorism, natural disasters (this should be a primary manner, since it isn't homicide and isn't exactly an accident).

[Max Rockatansky]

Cardiovascular Disease was the actual cause of death, I've never been a fan of the term "natural causes."

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death, the condition that resulted in him dying.  "Natural causes" is the manner of death, meaning that he wasn't murdered, didn't have an accident or overdose, or otherwise die from an outside cause.  Death by natural causes is a result of problems inside the body.  It could include infections or other problems caused by outside sources, such as obesity or smoking, because what causes the death isn't the act of eating too much or smoking, but is the disease that the behavior brought about, which is internal.  Manner of death is a very broad term, and there are only a few of them, natural, homicide, and accident.  They can include specialized categories, such as suicide (self-homicide), judicially ordered execution (legal homicide), acts of war or terrorism, natural disasters (this should be a primary manner, since it isn't homicide and isn't exactly an accident).

Nobody would say that if I died at 37 from cardiovascular disease (which I've had some scares with atrial fibrillation).  It feels like a tired cliche that is used only to describe when the elderly die of something kind of expected for their age bracket.  Granted, it's terrible that Regis Philbin died at all...I'm not discounting that. 

[wxfree]

Cardiovascular Disease was the actual cause of death, I've never been a fan of the term "natural causes."

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death, the condition that resulted in him dying.  "Natural causes" is the manner of death, meaning that he wasn't murdered, didn't have an accident or overdose, or otherwise die from an outside cause.  Death by natural causes is a result of problems inside the body.  It could include infections or other problems caused by outside sources, such as obesity or smoking, because what causes the death isn't the act of eating too much or smoking, but is the disease that the behavior brought about, which is internal.  Manner of death is a very broad term, and there are only a few of them, natural, homicide, and accident.  They can include specialized categories, such as suicide (self-homicide), judicially ordered execution (legal homicide), acts of war or terrorism, natural disasters (this should be a primary manner, since it isn't homicide and isn't exactly an accident).

Nobody would say that if I died at 37 from cardiovascular disease (which I've had some scares with atrial fibrillation).  It feels like a tired cliche that is used only to describe when the elderly die of something kind of expected for their age bracket.  Granted, it's terrible that Regis Philbin died at all...I'm not discounting that.

That was actually my first thought, that "natural causes" was a euphemism for "old age."  At Regis's age, you expect to die, and we seem to think there's something wrong with being old, so instead of just telling the truth ("he was old as fuck and had to die from something"), we use the nicer phrase of "natural causes."  But if you or I were to die from the same thing, it would still be "natural causes."  But even though it's natural "causes," it isn't a cause of death, it's a manner.  Maybe it should be called "natural manners."  I'm a few years older than you, and if I died of cardiovascular disease, and if I were important enough for anyone to discuss it, then it would probably be stated that I died of cardiovascular disease.  Even though I'm explaining what the term technically means, I agree with you about how age influences how we think.  When someone near 90 dies of natural causes, we accept it as obvious, because they have to die of something, but when a younger person dies of natural causes, we want more explanation.  If a 5 year old dies of natural causes, we want to know what in nature is killing kids, but if a 95 year old dies of natural causes, we accept it as the way things are.  That's why "natural causes" can explain deaths of old people who are expected to die, but it isn't adequate when young people die from causes equally as natural but whom we think are too young to be obvious candidates for death.

[thspfc]

I hate how we have to say "natural causes at the age of 88" nowadays. It's the corrupt media telling people that all old people are going to die because of the virus.

[NWI_Irish96]

I got to meet him a couple times. His daughter J.J. was in the same class as me at Notre Dame.

[ftballfan]

I had no idea he was that old! He held the Guinness record for the most number of hours on TV (it helped that he was doing Millionaire and Live! at the same time for a few years)

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Cardiovascular Disease was the actual cause of death, I've never been a fan of the term "natural causes."

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of death, the condition that resulted in him dying.  "Natural causes" is the manner of death, meaning that he wasn't murdered, didn't have an accident or overdose, or otherwise die from an outside cause.  Death by natural causes is a result of problems inside the body.  It could include infections or other problems caused by outside sources, such as obesity or smoking, because what causes the death isn't the act of eating too much or smoking, but is the disease that the behavior brought about, which is internal.  Manner of death is a very broad term, and there are only a few of them, natural, homicide, and accident.  They can include specialized categories, such as suicide (self-homicide), judicially ordered execution (legal homicide), acts of war or terrorism, natural disasters (this should be a primary manner, since it isn't homicide and isn't exactly an accident).

Nobody would say that if I died at 37 from cardiovascular disease (which I've had some scares with atrial fibrillation).  It feels like a tired cliche that is used only to describe when the elderly die of something kind of expected for their age bracket.  Granted, it's terrible that Regis Philbin died at all...I'm not discounting that.

That was actually my first thought, that "natural causes" was a euphemism for "old age."  At Regis's age, you expect to die, and we seem to think there's something wrong with being old, so instead of just telling the truth ("he was old as fuck and had to die from something"), we use the nicer phrase of "natural causes."  But if you or I were to die from the same thing, it would still be "natural causes."  But even though it's natural "causes," it isn't a cause of death, it's a manner.  Maybe it should be called "natural manners."  I'm a few years older than you, and if I died of cardiovascular disease, and if I were important enough for anyone to discuss it, then it would probably be stated that I died of cardiovascular disease.  Even though I'm explaining what the term technically means, I agree with you about how age influences how we think.  When someone near 90 dies of natural causes, we accept it as obvious, because they have to die of something, but when a younger person dies of natural causes, we want more explanation.  If a 5 year old dies of natural causes, we want to know what in nature is killing kids, but if a 95 year old dies of natural causes, we accept it as the way things are.  That's why "natural causes" can explain deaths of old people who are expected to die, but it isn't adequate when young people die from causes equally as natural but whom we think are too young to be obvious candidates for death.

When I was a kid, my great-grandmother passed away in her 90s. So when my parents told me she passed on, I had to ask 'why?' "Old age" is what they told me. Now I was 11 or 12, and I knew she was in failing health, but I was deemed too young to have the exact cause told to me. (Come to think of it, 30+ years later, I still don't know how she died)

[In_Correct]

Despite being semi-retired for many years, I did not think Regis Philbin would die at 88.

In some other places, such as Japan, 88 is probably still considered quite young. And if some body died at 88, they would be more specific about cause of death instead of saying just Natural Causes And / Or Old Age.

[NWI_Irish96]

Despite being semi-retired for many years, I did not think Regis Philbin would die at 88.

In some other places, such as Japan, 88 is probably still considered quite young. And if some body died at 88, they would be more specific about cause of death instead of saying just Natural Causes And / Or Old Age.

If nothing else causes you to die, at some point your heart simply stops working. Not in the same manner as in a heart attack but it just simply loses its ability to work. It may stop working at an earlier age if you weren't the healthiest person, but it's still a natural cause of death.

Japan's life expectancy is only about 3 years higher than the US, so 88 is still old even there.

[Max Rockatansky]

Despite being semi-retired for many years, I did not think Regis Philbin would die at 88.

In some other places, such as Japan, 88 is probably still considered quite young. And if some body died at 88, they would be more specific about cause of death instead of saying just Natural Causes And / Or Old Age.

If nothing else causes you to die, at some point your heart simply stops working. Not in the same manner as in a heart attack but it just simply loses its ability to work. It may stop working at an earlier age if you weren't the healthiest person, but it's still a natural cause of death.

Japan's life expectancy is only about 3 years higher than the US, so 88 is still old even there.

To that end I always find it kind of odd when someone dies in their 60s and their family/friends say they died young.  That's still near the median average life expectancy and could in a way be considered a full life.  I feel that way in that regard with my Mom passing at 67 but my Aunt and Sister do not. 

[bing101]

Regis on AM Los Angeles in 1978. This show would later lead him to do "The Morning Show" In New York prior to becoming a daytime talk host nationwide.