Jerry Springer in Florida: TV star, dead at 79, loved living in Sarasota

Before Jerry Springer died Thursday at the age of 79, he was a Sunshine State super fan.

The London-born TV host of the syndicated “The Jerry Springer Show,” who did stints as a lawyer, TV anchor and mayor of Cincinnati, savored his life in Sarasota for decades.

Springer’s wife was the one who discovered Sarasota, according to an interview the television star did with Premier Sotheby’s International Realty in 2015. She was drawn by the natural beauty, including the waterfront views.

The couple left Cincinnati, Ohio, and made their primary residence in Bird Key in the late 1990s. In 2002, they purchased a four-bed, five-bath home for $375,000, according to the website Virtual Globetrotting.

The Springers loved the Sarasota Opera and hanging out at St. Armand’s Circle.

“In the beginning, they are surprised you’re there, and there’s a little bit of hubbub, but the people here know this is where we live, and there is great respect for privacy,” Springer said in the Premier interview. “It’s usually when the tourists come here and we’re having lunch on St. Armand’s Circle, that’s there’s a lot of picture-taking.”

For the most part, Springer said that fans who spotted him in public were friendly.

“99.9% of the people we run into are just saying, ‘Hey Jer-ry’ and they just want pictures and to say hello,” he said. “It is such a friendly community, but they do really respect our privacy. We love it because I’m so public every place else, so when I come home, I can really be home and I don’t have to be a public person.”

Springer, a fan of Ybor City, made some high-profile appearances in Tampa. As the grand marshal of the Krewe of the Knights of Sant’Yago Knight Parade for multiple years, he was no stranger to pirates chanting “Jer-ry, Jer-ry!”

In 2018, Springer chatted with the Tampa Bay Times about his thoughts on Florida. But he didn’t quite agree with the Florida Man-tinted perception that some had about the state.

“It also has a reputation of being an absolutely beautiful place. That’s why it has such a large population. People want to come here. ... I don’t find weirdness unique to Florida at all,” he told Times reporter Christopher Spata. “It’s beautiful, it’s unique, it has more diversity than many other places. It is almost a little country in itself.”