Bob Barker

Networks decide who will have a chance to do shows, but it is the viewers who make the final decision of who stays and who goes.

I am very fortunate, in that the television viewers of our country have decided that Bob Barker can stay.

-Bob Barker

Robert William Barker

December 12, 1923 – August 26, 2023

Bob Barker was an American television game show host. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. He also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.

Born in Darrington, Washington, in modest circumstances, Barker joined the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. He worked part-time in radio while attending college. In 1950, he moved to California to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences. He subsequently hosted various game shows, and the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants from 1967 to 1987, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving host of those pageants.

Barker began hosting The Price Is Right in 1972. He became an advocate for animal rights and of animal rights activism, supporting groups such as the United Activists for Animal Rights, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In 2007, he retired from hosting The Price Is Right after celebrating his 50-year career on television. In the years after his retirement, Barker continued to make occasional public appearances from 2009 to 2017.

Barker was a vegetarian. In 1982, Barker began ending The Price Is Right episodes with the phrase: "This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered."

In 1987, Barker requested the removal of fur prizes for the Miss USA pageant and stepped down as host when the producers refused. In 1989, Barker and United Activists for Animal Rights publicly accused several media projects and the American Humane Association of animal mistreatment and condoning animal mistreatment, a tactic which resulted in a $10 million suit against him and the UAAR for libel, slander, and invasion of privacy.

Barker founded DJ&T Foundation in 1994, named after his late wife and mother, which has contributed millions of dollars to animal-neutering programs and funded animal rescue and park facilities all over the United States. In 2004, Barker donated $1 million (equivalent to $1.5 million in 2022) to Columbia Law School to support the study of animal rights.

Good Night Neighbor

In Solidarity

Tony Figueroa