Courtney Shah Dies: ‘Jeopardy!’ Fans Mourn 7-Time Winner & Tournament of Champions Contestant

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What To Know

Dr. Courtney Shah, a seven-time Jeopardy! champion and history professor at Lower Columbia College, has died.
Shah competed in Jeopardy! Season 37, earning over $118,000, returned for the 2022 Tournament of Champions.
Students and fans are mourning her loss.

Dr. Courtney Shah, a seven-day Jeopardy! champion and a history professor at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, has died.

Lower Columbia College said Shah passed away peacefully at her home on the morning of Tuesday, July 21,  according to local radio station KLOG.

Shah competed in Jeopardy! Season 37 in 2021, earning $118,558 across her 7-game streak and $2,000 for her second-place finish in her eighth game, per J! Archive.

“I really never imagined I would get here,” she said in a behind-the-scenes video after her fifth game. “I’m not quite sure that this is actually reality yet.”

Shah returned to Jeopardy! for the 2022 Tournament of Champions and took home another $5,000 after making it to the quarterfinals.

“Courtney is the one who ended the ‘guest host curse’ in Season 37 prior to Matt Amodio’s superchampion status and became the first 5-plus game champion since Brian Chang/Zach Newkirk,” one fan of the game show wrote on Reddit following Shah’s death.

In a Facebook comment, a fan wrote, “Sad to hear this. She was a great Jeopardy! champion. Condolences to her family and friends.”

And Shah’s former students are mourning, too. “I had the pleasure of taking one of her U.S. history classes,” one said on Facebook. “She was such a powerful teacher. Lots of her lessons still resonate with me. Rest in peace, Dr. Shah.”

Another wrote, “This makes me so sad! I took a few of her classes at LCC and had her for history the same year she was on Jeopardy! As a long time Jeopardy! fan, I thought it was so cool to get to watch her on there. She was wonderful in both roles.”

According to an LCC bio, Shah earned a Ph.D. from the University of Houston and specialized in the history of gender, sexuality, medicine, and race. She was the author of Sex Ed, Segregated: The Quest for Sexual Knowledge in Progressive-Era America as well as work published in academic journals and encyclopedias. She also enjoyed hiking, kayaking, and reading.

According to KLOG, a memorial service for Shah will be held on Monday, August 10, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at LCC’s Rose Center for the Arts.