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(Left) Richard Dawson stands next to a contestant on Family Feud. (Right) Richard Dawson appears in a still photo from an episode of the 1960s sitcom, Hogans Heroes. - Provided courtesy of www.facebook.com/gdawsonla

Richard Dawson, 'Family Feud' host, dead at 79

Get more: Celebrity Deaths, TV
06/02/2012 by Janet Kinnaman

Richard Dawson, who hosted the TV game show "Family Feud" in the 70s and 80s, has died. He was 79.

His son, Richard Dawson, posted on Facebook, saying his father died Saturday night from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"Family Feud," which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted families who tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as "What do people give up when they go on a diet?"

Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best game show host.

He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed "somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000."

His son's Facebook post said Dawson is survived by sons Mark and Gary (from first wife, Diana Dors) his wife Gretchen, daughter Shannon and four grandchildren.

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