Larry King

Lawrence Harvey Zeiger — known to the world as Larry King — was born on November 19, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York, to Orthodox Jewish immigrant parents who had come to America from Belarus. His father, Aaron, ran a small restaurant and worked in defense plants; his mother, Jennie, labored in the garment trade. When Larry was just nine years old, his father died of a heart attack, a loss that upended the family's finances and left a deep mark on the boy who would one day make a career of asking the world's most powerful people the questions everyone wanted answered. From the time he was five years old, King knew exactly what he wanted to do. He dreamed of the radio, of the microphone, of talking to people. In 1957, having moved to Miami at the suggestion of a broadcasting contact, he talked his way into a job at tiny WAHR in Miami Beach — first mopping floors, then, when a DJ suddenly quit, stepping in front of the mic on May 1, 1957, for a morning show that paid fifty dollars a week. The station's general manager shortened "Zeiger" to "King" moments before that first broadcast. The name stuck. The career caught fire. Through the late 1950s and 1960s, King built an audience across Miami radio and television, conducting candid interviews from a Pumpernik's Restaurant booth — his first celebrity guest was Bobby Darin. By 1978, the Mutual Broadcasting System had taken his all-night call-in show national, and when CNN founder Ted Turner came calling in 1985, Larry King Live became one of the defining programs in the history of television news. For twenty-five years, presidents, prime ministers, pop stars, and ordinary Americans sat across from him under the studio lights. He conducted an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 interviews in his career, speaking with seven U.S. Presidents and six First Ladies, and his suspenders, oversized glasses, and rolled-up sleeves became as recognizable as any anchor desk in America. A three-pack-a-day smoker for decades, King survived a major heart attack in 1987 and used the experience to found the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, helping others access heart surgery they could not otherwise afford. He never stopped working. After leaving CNN in 2010, he co-founded Ora Media and launched new digital programs, honoring a vow he had made to himself: he would retire only when they carried him out. He is survived by sons Larry Jr., Chance, and Cannon. In August 2020, he lost both his son Andy and daughter Chaia within weeks of each other — a grief almost too large to speak. He passed away on May 29, 2026, leaving behind a legacy measured not just in awards — two Peabodys, an Emmy, ten Cable ACE Awards — but in every question he ever asked, and every answer the world gained from the listening.