Five-time "Jeopardy!" champion Brayden Smith, one of the final contestants to appear on the show before Alex Trebek's passing last year, has died unexpectedly at the age of 24. The show made the announcement on Twitter Friday.
"The JEOPARDY! family is heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brayden Smith. He was kind, funny and absolutely brilliant. Our deepest condolences go out to Brayden’s family. He will be missed," the show said.
His obituary reads that Smith died Feb. 5 in Las Vegas. It did not say how he passed. It went on to say Smith was looking forward to competing in the "Tournament of Champions."
Smith graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with economics degree and intended to attend law school to become a federal attorney, the obituary continued. He recently researched criminal justice reform as an intern at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
"Brayden loved classic and not-so-classic movies. He could be explaining the symbolism in Citizen Kane one moment and the comedic timing in Dumb and Dumber the next," the obituary read. It said he also played the saxophone and enjoyed music from Duke Ellington to the Beach Boys to Steely Dan.
