Roger Ailes remembered as a pioneer Former Fox News chief, who passed away Thursday morning, left a complicated legacy.

Roger Ailes, the pioneering media strategist who helped revamp Richard Nixon’s image for an improbable comeback and later redefined political broadcasting by creating Fox News, died Thursday morning at the age of 77, the network confirmed.

"I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning. Roger was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many," Elizabeth Ailes, Ailes' wife, said in a statement first reported by Drudge Report and then read on air by Fox.


Ailes left the network he created last July in the wake of a high-profile sexual harassment suit by Gretchen Carlson, one of many successful anchors he recruited to the network. When other female employees related similar stories about Ailes, he and Fox agreed to part ways. Ailes denied the allegations.

His lawyer in those matters, Susan Estrich, provided a full statement from the family that continued: “Roger was a patriot, grateful to live in a country that gave him so much opportunity to work hard, to rise — and to give back. During a career that stretched over more than five decades, his work in entertainment, in politics, and in news affected the lives of many millions. And so even as we mourn his death, we celebrate his life.”

Ailes’ wife said those who wish to honor Ailes’ life should donate to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.

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Ailes was born in 1940 in Ohio and started his career in local television. Beginning in the 1960s, Ailes worked with Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, helping the candidates with their media appearances, advertisements and overall strategy, as all three rose to the White House.

Ailes was famous for his political acumen and wrote the now-classic political book “You Are the Message” in 1988. In the book, he said the most important factor in winning elections is “the like factor” — whether one candidate is, simply, more likable than the other.

After leaving politics, Ailes got back into TV, working with radio host Rush Limbaugh and then creating CNBC. (Ailes would later launch a CNBC rival, Fox Business Network.)

In 1996, Rupert Murdoch, head of 21st Century Fox, invited Ailes to start up a conservative news network competitor to CNN, called Fox News. Before long it became a ratings juggernaut and helped transform not only the media landscape, but Republican politics as well.

For 20 years, Ailes ran Fox News as his own fiefdom. He once told a biographer that as long as the numbers were good, he was left alone. Throughout the course of his decades at Fox, he discovered and hired some of the biggest names in television news, including Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and many others.

But reports about Ailes’ more unsavory behavior existed for years. Gabriel Sherman, who wrote an unauthorized biography of Ailes in 2014, became the unofficial chronicler of Ailes’ misdeeds, including alleged inappropriate behavior toward women.

That alleged behavior went on full display in the summer of 2016 when Carlson filed a stunning lawsuit alleging sexual harassment from Ailes. Within a few weeks, an investigation commissioned by Fox News’ parent company found that Ailes had made similar advances on other women. Until his death, Ailes denied all the allegations. He left the network with a $40 million payout.

Ailes’ departure led to reverberations across the network and throughout the next year, most recently with the departures of O’Reilly, under similar sexual harassment allegations, and then last month of former co-president Bill Shine. Other anchors, including Kelly and Greta Van Susteren, left the network in the past year as well, and the network’s lineup has been significantly reworked.

Ailes had health troubles for the past few years. In an authorized biography published in 2013, he said he didn’t have much longer to live.

“My doctor told me that I’m old, fat, and ugly, but none of those things is going to kill me immediately,” he told the biographer a little before his 72nd birthday. “The actuaries say I have six to eight years. The best tables give me 10. Three thousand days, more or less.”

In a statement, Murdoch said "everybody at Fox News is shocked and grieved."

"A brilliant broadcaster, Roger played a huge role in shaping America’s media over the last thirty years," Murdoch continued. "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."

Many current and former Fox News staffers acknowledged Ailes' impact on their own lives and careers. Others made veiled references to the sexual harassment allegations against him while touting his legacy on conservative media and politics.

"He always allowed me to be the journalist I was," former Fox correspondent and current CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett said shortly after the news broke. "He always treated me fairly with professional respect and professional courtesy."

"Were it not for Roger Ailes, I would not be the person I am today," Hannity tweeted, later calling him a "second father."

"Few people in this life will ever reach the profound level of ... impact that Roger Ailes had on the country every single day," Hannity continued. "As his opponents played checkers in life, Roger was always the strategist ... playing Chess, 5 steps ahead at a whole other level."

David Axelrod, strategist for former president Barack Obama, tweeted: "For better or worse & the ignominious end 2 his reign at Fox News, the impact of Roger Ailes on American politics and media was indisputable. I knew Ailes. Competed against him in campaigns. Railed against him many times. But appreciated our frank, backchannel conversations."

Former President George H.W. Bush said in a tweet: "He wasn't perfect, but Roger Ailes was my friend & I loved him. Not sure I would have been President w/o his great talent, loyal help. RIP."

Madeline Conway contributed to this report.