President Biden remembered the life and legacy of former talk-show host Phil Donahue, describing him as a "trailblazing television icon."
Donahue died Sunday after a long illness, NBC's "Today" reported. He was 88.
Biden, in a statement Tuesday, applauded Donahue's lengthy career in radio and television and offered his condolences to the family.
"In Phil Donahue, our nation has lost a trailblazing television icon who held up a mirror to America and united us around the toughest issues of our time," Biden wrote. "A son of a working-class, Irish-Catholic family from Cleveland, Phil first honed his craft as a radio station assistant in university, before rising to transform television and reshape the national conversation."
Across nearly 7,000 episodes, Donahue "pioneered the live daytime talk show," Biden said.
Donahue, nicknamed "the king of daytime talk," was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, which usually ran one hour with a single guest.
"The Phil Donahue Show," launched in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967, set the stage for future daytime television shows and was known for its radio-style call-ins, during which Donahue said his signature, "Is the caller there?"
Donahue helped "change hearts and minds through honest and open dialogue," Biden wrote, adding the television host "saw every guest as worthy of interest."
"[Donahue] worked to build understanding, helping us see each other not as enemies, but as fellow Americans," Biden wrote, adding later, "Through his extraordinary career in television and through thousands of daily conversations, Phil Donahue steered the national discourse and spoke to our better angels. He will be sorely missed."
Donahue's program, later renamed "Donahue," was syndicated in 1970 and ran on television for the next 26 years, per The Associated Press. It featured talks with a range of figures, including doctors, activists, spiritual leaders, politicians and entertainers.
Donahue won 20 Emmy awards, and in May, Biden awarded him a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Donahue died at his home surrounded by his family, including his wife, actor Marlo Thomas; his children; his grandchildren; his sister; and his dog, Charlie, his family told NBC.
Thomas, who starred in the 1960s series "That Girl," met Donahue during an appearance on his show in 1977, per the AP. The two were married in 1980 and had five children together.
Thomas wrote on Instagram she lost her "sweetheart."
"As a man who spent his career loving his audiences, Phil got such a kick out of our cozy little community here, and I know he would be very touched by the heartwarming thoughts and memories you've been sharing," Thomas wrote Monday.
Donahue made a brief return to television in 2002, hosting a "Donahue" segment on MSNBC, which was canceled after six months.
Longtime host Oprah Winfrey, whose daytime talk show began in 1986, paid tribute to Donahue on Monday.
"There wouldn’t have been an Oprah Show without Phil Donahue being the first to prove that daytime talk and women watching should be taken seriously," she wrote on Instagram. "He was a pioneer. I’m glad I got to thank him for it. Rest in peace Phil."
