Alex Trebek memorialized with mural at Sudbury high school

SUDBURY -

The beloved host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy!, Sudbury’s Alex Trebek is getting a mural made in his honour on the side of his old high school.

The memorial wall is being done up as part of the city’s urban art and music festival, called ‘Up Here.’

Artists have been working away at the large mural now starting to take shape Sudbury Secondary School this past week.

Trebek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2019, and passed away the next year at age 80. Organizers of the festival say this mural has been planned for a few years now.

“We’ve always been a big fan of him as a Sudburian but as a celebrity as well and his sense of curiosity and discovery and it just matches so well with the festival vibe and with this city and we were on the hunt for the perfect wall and Sudbury Secondary School was just a natural fit,” said Christian Pelletier, co-founder of the Up Here festival.

The project is being paid for the Rainbow District School Board, and the Up Here festival has brought in a well known mural artist named Kevin Ledo from Montreal.

“He’s got a very nice abstract feel that’s really colourful and just a lot of fun. It’s really accessible. We diversify our murals a lot. Some of them are way more eclectic, some of them are more contemporary art and then we have some like this that are a little bit more based in images that people know,” continued Pelletier.

Ledo says it’s an honour to be creating this mural here in Alex Trebek’s hometown.

“It’s the best place to be painting him because he’s from here and it’s unfortunate that it’s after he’s passed, but I’m really excited to make this icon come to life again in the city, and make a monument for everyone to drive by and remember Alex and feel a sense of pride,” said Ledo.

Not only does Ledo feel pride but so do people in the city.

“I think this is absolutely amazing that Kevin is directing his amazing talent to doing a larger than life portrait of Alex Trebek, who was larger than life in fact and this mural is going up on alma mater is just really touching,” said one individual admiring the painting.

“I’m really happy to live in this neighbourhood and to work just down the street so I’ll be seeing it everyday.”

The mural will be complete later next week, just in time for the festival to begin on Aug. 20.