Robin Leach has died at the age of 76, just days before his 77th birthday.
The British star was best known for his TV show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous which epitomized Eighties decadence as it featuring such stars as Joan Collins and Don Johnson. The show ran from 1984 until 1995.
Leach passed away Friday morning in Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
He had been hospitalized since November after suffering a stroke while in Mexico.
Sad loss: Robin Leach has died at the age of 76, just days before his 77th birthday. The British star was best known for his TV show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous. Seen in 1996
The show featured such stars as Joan Collins and Don Johnson. The show ran from 1984 until 1995
Leach had been in hospice care after suffering a second stroke on Monday, the paper added.
‘Despite the past 10 months, what a beautiful life he had. Our Dad, Grandpa, Brother, Uncle and friend Robin Leach passed away peacefully last night,’ it was stated.
The family added, ‘Everyone’s support and love over the past, almost one year, has been incredible and we are so grateful.
‘Memorial arrangements to follow. With love, Steven, Gregg and Rick Leach.’
He will be forever known for his show Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous, on which he often said, ‘Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.’
In 2007, Leach was the host of The Surreal Life: Fame Games on VH1.
Leach had said he knew he wanted to be a journalist when he was just 10 years old.
When at Harrow County School for Boys, he began reported for The Harrow Observer.
He had a way with celebrities: The journalist, who used to work at the Daily Mail, posed here with Ivana Trump in 1990 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City
Stars flocked to him: With Morgan Fairchild with her sister Cathryn Hartt at a club in St Tropez, France in 1986
They got along well. The TV interviewer with Shelley Long, who was hot off TV’s Cheers, in Beverly Hills in 1988
The paper hired him when he was only 15.
Later, he left to work at the Daily Mail, where he became the publication’s youngest Page One editor at age 18.
In 1963 he moved to New York City where he wrote for the New York Daily News.
He also started interviewing celebrities for People magazine and became friends with Morgan Fairchild as well as Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana Trump.
In the Eighties he moved on to TV working for CNN and then Entertainment Tonight.
And in 1984 he created Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous, which he starred in and produced. It was one of the first shows to go inside celebrity homes and get a good look at their opulence.
Many have said his show opened the door for reality TV.
And Leach seemed to know that fans loved the glitz of it all. ‘The more eye-popping and outrageous, the better. We wanted to make your mouth drop. That was the main effect. One picture was worth a thousand words, so if you had more pictures, the less you would have to say,’ he told AskMen.
He took to Sin City: Leach worked in Las Vegas for the past several years. Here is one of the last photos of him from May 2017 with Jennifer Romas