Alan Colmes Dead at 66

Longtime radio host and Fox News personality Alan Colmes passed away at the age of 66. Fox News’s official Twitter account posted the message confirming the sad news of Colmes’ passing on Thursday morning.

Host Bill Hemmer interrupted programming on America’s Newsroom and updated viewers of Colmes’ passing. The network also aired a touching tribute narrated by Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, who co-hosted with Colmes the highly-rated political debate show Hannity & Colmes from October 7, 1996 to January 9, 2009.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mYADYqYMSY

In a statement to Fox News, Hannity called Alan Colmes “one of life’s most decent, kind and wonderful people you’d ever want to meet.”

“When Alan and I started ‘Hannity & Colmes,’ there wasn’t a day that went by where we didn’t say we were the two most fortunate men in all of television,” said Hannity.

Colmes, an outspoken liberal Democrat and host of the nationally syndicated radio show, The Alan Colmes Show, is survived by his wife, Jocelyn Crowley, who issued the following statement:

Alan Colmes passed away this morning after a brief illness. He was 66-years-old. He leaves his adoring and devoted wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley. He was a great guy, brilliant, hysterical, and moral. He was fiercely loyal, and the only thing he loved more than his work was his life with Jocelyn. He will be missed. The family has asked for privacy during this very difficult time.

Despite their polar opposite political views, Hannity said he and Colmes “forged a deep friendship.”

“Alan, in the midst of great sickness and illness, showed the single greatest amount of courage I’ve ever seen,” Hannity added.

As news of his passing spread across the internet, friends and longtime colleagues of Colmes took to social media to offer their condolences and kind words.

Former Fox News stars Megan Kelly and Greta Van Susteren shared their condolences on social media.

Colmes’ death comes less than a week after the passing of Fox News Channel’s Brenda Buttner, who died at age 55 following a battle with cancer.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson