Longtime Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer passed away on Thursday at the age of 68. Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author, wrote a heartbreaking letter to colleagues, friends and viewers on June 8 in which he revealed he is in the final stages of cancer, and has just weeks left to live. “I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me,” he wrote. “Recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned. There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over,” he added. In recent years, Krauthammer was best known for his nightly appearance as a panelist on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” and as a commentator on various Fox News shows. Krauthammer was born in New York in 1950, and grew up in Montreal. His father, Shulim Krauthammer, was Austro-Hungarian and his mother, Thea, was born in Belgium. His parents met in Cuba. Both of Krauthammer’s parents were Orthodox Jews, and he and his brother were educated at a Hebrew school. Before going to Harvard Medical School, Krauthammer attended McGill University, and Oxford, where he met his wife, Robyn. He is survived by his wife and son, Daniel.
