Karl Soderlund, TV legend Sally Jessy Raphael’s husband, has died. He was 90. Soderlund died from complications due to Alzheimer’s disease on Thursday, August 6, at their farm in Dutchess County, New York, Raphael’s rep confirms to 360aproko.
Soderlund was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He was a Korean War veteran with the Air Force Radio Service (AFRS). According to the former talk show host’s rep, Raphael was her husband’s caretaker for the past few years. DailyMail was first to report the death.
Soderlund and Raphael got married in 1962 and spent 57 years as husband and wife. The two celebrated Soderlund’s 90th birthday in June.
“When I married Karl, he was 5 years my senior. Somehow, over 60 years, my Peter Pan husband has remained forever young and handsome!” she tweeted on June 3, alongside a photo of the two. “Happy 90th birthday to the love of my life – so glad we can finally be together with loved ones to celebrate your amazing life!”
In October 2019, 360aproko visited the talk show titan at her home in Upstate New York to talk about her incredible career in daytime television.
“I’ve been fired 28 times. I don’t think I earned over $26,000 a year before I was 40,” she revealed. “Timing is everything. Timing is knowing when that guest has told you everything they’re going to tell you or when that guest has something else that you can dig out.”
She also touched on her wonderful marriage with Soderlund, telling 360aproko, “He and I worked together every day of our lives…Sometimes when I couldn’t get a job, he would take a temporary job.”
“He’s romantic, he has great taste, he’s funny, funny. He’s very Scandinavian,” she gushed before joking. “That’s not always good. Read that to mean stubborn, but he was the right husband for me.”
