Roger Ailes in 2012. (Getty)
Fox News founder and former CEO Roger Ailes is dead, leaving members of the network stunned. Sean Hannity, Kimberly Guilfoyle and many others have taken to Twitter to express their condolences for losing a mentor. President Donald Trump, who took advice from Ailes during the campaign, has not commented yet.
While Ailes was a polarizing figure for many, as he effectively invented today’s partisan modern cable news landscape, Hannity wrote that America “lost one of its great patriotic leaders.”
“He saw something in me and many others he hired that we never saw in ourselves, and he forever changed the trajectory of thousands of peoples lives,” Hannity added.
The Five‘s Kimberly Guilfoyle sent her condolences to Ailes’ wife Elizabeth and their son Zachary.
RIP #RogerAiles sending my love and prayers to Beth & Zachary. Roger was a friend and a mentor to so many of us @FoxNews he will be missed
A longtime Fox News executive wrote to New York Magazine journalist Gabriel Sherman that this was “such a sudden end to a complicated man.”
Ailes death reverberating through the Fox News community. A longtime executive writes, “Such a sudden end to a complicated man.”
“He gave every one of us on this couch our opportunity,” Ainsley Earhardt said during Fox & Friends.
Here’s how Fox News reported the news:
Breaking News: Former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes has died, his family announced.
Governor Mike Huckabee wrote:
Deeply saddened by death of Roger Ailes. He had many critics and like ALL of us his sins, but I remember a great patriot, friend and boss.
Geraldo Rivera posted the following messages of condolence. Rivera worked with Ailes at CNBC and Fox News.
OMG #RogerAiles is gone, devastating news, & Erica & I send our condolences to Beth, their son Zack & the entire family. He was a great man
RIP #RogerAiles one of the most impt broadcasters in history-The genius who created #FoxNews -a good friend, who loved his family & country
Friends for decades #RogerAiles hired me twice-at #CNBC & #FoxNews after 9/11. I so lament his passing & the circumstances of his last year
Bret Baier added:
Juliet Huddy wrote:
Roger Ailes was my longtime boss, and at some points, like a second father to me. May he Rest In Peace.
Former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, who is now at MSNBC, wrote:
My heart goes out to Beth and Zach and yes Roger was the tv genius as everyone has said this morning
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and Fox News, wrote:
“Everybody at Fox News is shocked and grieved by the death of Roger Ailes. A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America’s media over the last thirty years. He will be remembered by the many people on both sides of the camera that he discovered, nurtured and promoted. Roger and I shared a big idea which he executed in a way no one else could have. In addition, Roger was a great patriot who never ceased fighting for his beliefs. At 21st Century Fox we will always be enormously grateful for the great business he built. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Elizabeth and son Zachary.”
