Don Imus has died at the age of 79.
The radio legend was best known for his outsized cowboy hat and penchant for making controversial, often offensive, statements, including one slur about the Rutgers Women's basketball team that got him fired from CBS in 2007.
KFH Radio aired the popular 'Imus in the Morning' in Wichita during the 90s and 2000s. While on KFH, Imus made the station one of the top-rated in Wichita.
His radio show was once home to presidential hopefuls like Bob Dole, political pundits and platinum-selling musicians.
Imus' unsparing on-air persona was tempered by his off-air philanthropy, raising more than $40 million for groups including the CJ Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He ran a New Mexico ranch for dying children, and often used his radio show to "solicit" guests for donations.
Imus, born on a Riverside, California cattle ranch, was the oldest of two boys — his brother Fred later became an "Imus In the Morning" show regular. The family moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where Imus joined the Marines before taking jobs as a freight train brakeman and uranium miner.
Only at age 28 did he appear on the airwaves. His caustic persona, though it would later serve him well, was initially a problem: Imus was canned by a small station in Stockton, California, uttering the word "hell."
The controversy only enhanced his career, a pattern that continued throughout the decades.
Imus, moving to larger California stations, earned Billboard's "Disc Jockey of the Year" award for medium-sized markets after a stunt where he ordered 1,200 hamburgers to go from a local McDonald's.
His next stop was Cleveland, where he won DJ of the year for large markets. By 1971, he was doing the morning drive-time show on WNBC-AM in New York, the nation's largest and most competitive radio market. Imus brought along a destructive taste for vodka, along with a growing reputation for irascibility.
In 1977, Imus was ignominiously dismissed by WNBC and dispatched to the relative anonymity of Cleveland. Within two years, though, he turned disaster into triumph, returning to New York and adding a new vice: cocaine. While his career turned around, his first marriage (which produced four daughters) fell apart.
Imus struggled with addiction until a 1987 stint at a Florida alcohol rehabilitation center, coming out just as WNBC became the fledgling all-sports station WFAN — which retained Imus' non-sports show as its morning anchor.
Imus' career again soared. Time Magazine named Imus one of the 25 Most Influential People in America, and he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. His show began simulcasting on cable's MSNBC in September 1996.
A book plug on Imus' show guaranteed sales, and authors were soon queuing up for a slot on the show.
But he rarely missed a chance to get in trouble, even in the good times. He engaged in a long-running feud with shock jock Howard Stern, who usurped Imus' position as the No. 1 morning host in New York City.
And he outraged guests at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner in 1996, cracking wise about President Clinton's extramarital activities as the first lady sat stone-faced nearby. "We all know you're a pot-smoking weasel," Imus said at another point about Clinton.
A White House spokesman called Imus' bit "fairly tasteless."
A February 2006 profile in Vanity Fair contained the quote that might best serve as Imus' epitaph.
"I talk to millions of people every day," he said while riding home in a limousine after one show. "I just like it when they can't talk back."
His family issued a statement Friday afternoon on his passing:
"Imus passed away on Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, after being hospitalized on Christmas Eve," a representative said. The cause of death was not given.
"Don loved and adored Deirdre, who unconditionally loved him back, loved spending his time watching Wyatt become a highly skilled, champion rodeo rider and calf roper, and loved and supported Zachary, who first met the Imus family at age 10 when he participated in the Imus Ranch program for kids with cancer, having battled and overcome leukemia, eventually becoming a member of the Imus family and Don and Deirdre's second son," Imus' family said in a statement.
Imus is survived by his wife of 25 years, Deirdre, sons Wyatt and Lt. Zachary Don Cates and daughters Nadine, Ashley, Elizabeth and Toni.
A small service for Imus will be held in the next few days. The family requests that any donations be made to the Imus Ranch Foundation, which supports charities for children with cancer and other major illnesses.
