He would always reach out his hand and say, 'Jerry Springer.' As if they didn't know. But it was always disarming to the person who was meeting him." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's ...

He also knew very little ... Jerry knew that his parents, Richard and Margo Springer, left Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of the Second World War. But as is the case with many Jewish people ...

Jerry Springer has been laid to rest. Springer's longtime publicist Linda Shafran and family friend/spokesman Jene Galvin confirmed to PEOPLE that a private ceremony was held on Sunday in a suburb ...