Legendary ABC presenter Richard Zachariah has died aged 80, four months after his partner and former co-host Maggie Tabberer passed away aged 87. His cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
The couple co-hosted Australia's beloved The Home Show in the 80s and 90s, and were in a relationship from 1985 to 1995, and were one of the country's most popular celebrity couples.
Guyetts will hold a funeral service for Mr Zachariah on April 23 at the Eastern Park Chapel at Warrnambool in Victoria.
"A colourful character, respected journalist and writer, and lover of life," the notice reads. "Always remembered."
Zachariah said The Home Show, which was one of the biggest shows of the 90s: "some people said we were showing houses that Australians couldn’t afford ... we got more letters from viewers saying, 'I live in a fibro house and I’ll never be able to live in the houses we see on the program, but I want to dream so don’t dare take them off'."
The show was forced to end after Richard and Maggie ended their relationship, with the star revealing that people crossed the street to avoid him, comparing his split with Maggie as like "breaking up with the Queen Mother".
He went on to step back from the limelight, moving to South Australia with his new girlfriend Sarah., living in a vineyard and horse breeding property in the Adelaide Hills.
Zachariah was also a huge racing enthusiast, and also wrote a number of books, including an autobiography where he addressed his highly-publicised split from Tabberer.
He also went on to be a newsreader on Seven Nightly News and a presenter on the daytime program 11am during the 1980s.
Tributes have come flooding in from fans, with one branding him a "giant of Australian media". Another added: "Rest In Peace Richard Zachariah - Journalist."
His ex Maggie died in December last year, with her daughter confirming the TV and fashion icon's death in a post to Instagram. She penned: "This morning we lost our beautiful mother and Nanna. She was an icon in every sense of the word and we will miss her dearly, along with the rest of Australia. Rest in peace Nanna. We love you to bits forever."
