Card Sharks Host Jim Perry Dies at 82

Game show host Jim Perry has passed away after a battle with cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 82.

"Today we lost the greatest father, friend and husband anybody could ever wish for," Perry's family said in a statement. "While he provided decades of entertainment to millions of people, his greatest victory was his growth as a human being -- rising from a childhood filled with challenges including great poverty to provide an amazing life for his family. The world is a better place for his having been here."

Perry is best known for his time on NBC, which began with Card Sharks. He hosted the card game for three years until he also took on the network's Sale of the Century in 1982. That show lasted six years and then went into syndication.

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His other hosting credits include the CTV (Canadian TV) show Headline Hunters and Definition, which still holds the record as the longest-running game show in Canadian TV history.

Before Perry found his calling on TV, he was a star basketball player and a veteran who worked in the Special Armed Forces during the Korean War. When he returned home, he teamed with comedian Sid Caeser and toured the country for years, including a three-year stay in Las Vegas.

Perry his survived by his wife, June, their two children Sean and Erin, and three grandchildren.