Don Imus Dead at 79

Don Imus

Don Imus, who tested the limits of shock radio with his irreverent attacks on celebrities, politicians, racial and ethnic groups, women, gay people and practically anyone whose head stuck up out of the foxhole, died on Friday in College Station, Texas. He was 79. 

A publicist, Matthew Hiltzik, confirmed his death, at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center. The cause was not specified. On his “Imus in the Morning” show on March 16, 2009, Mr. Imus disclosed that he had prostate cancer. He was advised to have radiation treatments, but said he had chosen to treat the disease holistically.

For nearly a half-century — from his start on local stations in the West in 1968, through a succession of New York regional and national radio stations and cable networks, until his retirement in 2018 — Mr. Imus, with occasional and sometimes extended timeouts for illnesses, accidents or legal problems, entertained and offended countless millions with his mercurial outbursts.

The outpouring of sympathy after his disclosure about his prostate cancer reflected not only his wide following as a radio personality but also admiration for his private charity work, raising millions for the rehabilitation of wounded veterans of the Iraq war and for children with cancer and siblings of victims of sudden infant death syndrome. Since 1999, many of these children had spent summers on his ranch near Ribera, N.M.

The public Don Imus was different. Grizzled, irascible, foulmouthed, an outrageous, confrontational growler with a buckram face, a battered cowboy hat and a gun on his hip, he spent decades on the air doing pranks and parodies that were often brutish, tasteless or obscene and sometimes racist, sexist or homophobic — all while surviving alcoholism, cocaine addiction, repeated firings and a nearly fatal fall from a horse.

In the more printable Imus lexicon, Dick Cheney was “a war criminal,” Hillary Rodham Clinton was “Satan,” Oprah Winfrey “a fat phony,” Newt Gingrich “a man who would eat roadkill,” Ted Kennedy “a fat slob,” Steve Forbes “a meanspirited creep,” Dan Rather “a loony,” Rush Limbaugh “a drug-addled gas bag.” Many listeners detected the toxins of Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Mort Sahl or Groucho Marx.