Editing Gene Rayburn (section)

==Personal life and death==
Rayburn was married to Helen Ticknor from 1940 until her death in October 1996. They had one child, daughter Lynne.

One of Rayburn's last TV appearances was a 1998 interview with ''[[Access Hollywood]]'' intended to coincide with the 25th anniversary of ''Match Game '73''. Portions of the interview have been rebroadcast on [[Game Show Network]], which in 2001 showed portions of another previously unaired interview during the first airing of its ''Match Game Blankathon''.<ref name=behindtheblank/>

Rayburn identified as a [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]] politically<ref>{{cite news| last=Bump| first=Philip| date=September 16, 2015| title=Lots of game show hosts are outspoken conservatives. But why?| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/16/why-do-game-show-hosts-lean-republican/| access-date=August 13, 2020| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> and was a supporter of [[Planned Parenthood]]. Rayburn was also concerned that [[human overpopulation]] would become a problem in the 21st century and that it would become more difficult to supply resources such as food if the population grew too large. He expressed these concerns when he appeared on Game Show Hosts week on ''[[Card Sharks]]'' in 1980, where he played for Planned Parenthood as his favorite charity.

Rayburn enjoyed needlepoint and did it regularly on his many flights to and from California. He took it up when he knitted socks as a gag on ''Rayburn and Finch.'' Mark Goodson presented him with a needlepoint kit on the air as a gift when ''Match Game'' became the number one show on daytime television.

Though in poor health and suffering from dementia,<ref name=behindtheblank/> Rayburn appeared in person to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]]. A month later, on November 29, 1999, he died of [[heart failure]] at his daughter's home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, at age 81.<ref name=Woo>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-03-mn-40153-story.html| last=Woo| first=Elaine| title=Gene Rayburn; Hosted Television's 'Match Game'| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]| date=December 3, 1999 |access-date=July 7, 2019}}</ref> He was cremated and his ashes spread in the garden of his daughter's home.

Rayburn's final TV appearance was in an interview for the ''[[A&E Biography]]'' episode profiling the life of his longtime boss Mark Goodson; though taped in late 1999, the episode did not air until June 4, 2000, over six months after Rayburn had died.