# Alan Thicke dead at 69 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [December 14, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653 "2016-12-14T02:16:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/21 "2016-12-14T16:41:51Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Seems like I heard this years ago. Long night? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/22 "2016-12-14T17:43:28Z")
No, seriously. Is there another guy who fills the same “ecological niche” as Thicke that I might be confusing him with. TV dad, famous son, dead? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/23 "2016-12-14T18:01:18Z")
I agree that 69 is too young, but otherwise a quick death while playing hockey with someone you love in sunny California in winter would seem the ideal death for a Toronto boy. Random trivia: he was in a relationship and ultimately engaged to Kristy Swanson during the early seasons of Growing Pains. They started dating when she was 17 and he was 40. (They never married.) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/24 "2016-12-14T18:12:49Z")
In **How I Met Your Mother** , Robin used to be a minor Canadian pop star in the 90’s. In a video of her second single, “Sand Castles in the Sand”, Alan Thicke played her dad. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/25 "2016-12-14T18:21:18Z")
> [@blue\_infinity](#): > > Damn, why couldn’t it have been Kirk Cameron. That was my first thought, but I’m glad you posted it first. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/26 "2016-12-14T18:24:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > David Bowie, Alan Rickman, and Patty Duke were also 69. That’s one heck of a co-winky-dink. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/27 "2016-12-14T18:56:10Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > No, seriously. Is there another guy who fills the same “ecological niche” as Thicke that I might be confusing him with. TV dad, famous son, dead? Hmmmm… Bill Cosby is alive, but his own son was murdered. Different, I know. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/28 "2016-12-14T19:06:34Z")
> [@blue\_infinity](#): > > Damn, why couldn’t it have been Kirk Cameron. [Moderator note] While (so far as I know) Mr. Cameron is not a member of this board, it’s in really poor form to wish death on anyone, outside of the BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/29 "2016-12-14T20:41:21Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > No, seriously. Is there another guy who fills the same “ecological niche” as Thicke that I might be confusing him with. TV dad, famous son, dead? John Ritter, maybe? TV dad (8SR), famous _father_, two actor sons, died suddenly in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/30 "2016-12-14T21:52:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Confirmed. Heart attack while playing hockey with his son. > > How Canadian. Hard to imagine any more Canadian way to die, except maybe drinking Labatt at a Rush concert and getting trampled by a francophone moose wearing a toque. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/31 "2016-12-14T22:34:58Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Hard to imagine any more Canadian way to die, except maybe drinking Labatt at a Rush concert and getting trampled by a francophone moose wearing a toque. …while eating Poutine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/32 "2016-12-14T22:46:16Z")
Also, your last word has to be _“eh?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/33 "2016-12-14T23:43:21Z")
RIP ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/34 "2016-12-15T02:19:37Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > In **How I Met Your Mother** , Robin used to be a minor Canadian pop star in the 90’s. In a video of her second single, “Sand Castles in the Sand”, Alan Thicke played her dad. in the Motherverse Robin and Thicke worked together a lot - he was on the show about a half dozen times referring to her Canadian pop star past. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/35 "2016-12-17T01:49:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderator note] > While (so far as I know) Mr. Cameron is not a member of this board, it’s in really poor form to wish death on anyone, outside of the BBQ Pit. Thank you. RIP Mr. Thicke, may you live on in reruns forever, in both the show you starred in as well as the ones whose themes you wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/36 "2016-12-17T02:25:09Z")
Does anyone remember another, later sit-com he was in where he was the talent on a talk show? The show was about a single young girl who worked on his show, only I don’t remember the girl, the name of the show or any other details besides Alan Thicke played a very Ted Baxter character. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/37 "2016-12-17T03:05:49Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Does anyone remember another, later sit-com he was in where he was the talent on a talk show? The show was about a single young girl who worked on his show, only I don’t remember the girl, the name of the show or any other details besides Alan Thicke played a very Ted Baxter character. Hope and Gloria. He was a huge jerk on the show, kind of like Bill McNeal. I liked it when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/38 "2016-12-17T03:17:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Hope and Gloria. He was a huge jerk on the show, kind of like Bill McNeal. > > I liked it when I was a kid. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/39 "2016-12-17T05:25:35Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Hard to imagine any more Canadian way to die, except maybe drinking Labatt at a Rush concert and getting trampled by a francophone moose wearing a toque. Like. 🙂 I wonder if that’s ever happened to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653/40 "2016-12-22T16:37:59Z")
Cause of death has been established. [Aortic dissection.](http://people.com/celebrity/alan-thickes-cause-of-death-has-been-confirmed/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alan-thicke-dead-at-69/774653.md?page=3)