Steve Wright’s son has paid tribute to the BBC legend and said he got to know him in a way he ‘never had before’ while caring for him before he died.
Tom Wright had been living in Los Angeles but returned to the UK to tend to his father before his death.
Steve, one of the most familiar voices on the airwaves in the UK, died suddenly at the age of 69 on Tuesday, February 13.
It has been claimed he was in talks to host his own TV show, 18-months after being replaced on the radio by Scott Mills.
Steve’s friend of 40 years, publicist Gary Farrow, said he believes Steve ‘died from a broken heart’ after he was ‘devastated’ to lose his popular Radio 2 afternoon slot in 2022.
But Tom has now spoken out about his gratitude over getting the opportunity to bond with his father in his final days.
DJ Steve Wright arrives for the Sony Radio Awards 2003
Tom Wright had been living in Los Angeles but returned to the UK to care for his father
Loving father Steve is pictured holding a beaming Thomas during a family snap in July 1988
Steve Wright going to the BBC studios to record his Radio 2 afternoon show in 2013
Steve Wright, who died at the age of 69, pictured in his studio in 1994
In a touching post on social media, the grieving son said: ‘It meant the world to me that I was able to get to know my Dad in a way I never had in the months before he died.
‘I will cherish every moment we shared and every memory we made.
‘I only hope to make him proud and build on his legacy with kindness and love.’
He added: ‘This made every struggle worthwhile to have had this time with him before we lost him.’
Just two days before his father passed away, Tom posted that he had returned to Britain to spend a week with him before he reeived his MBE awarded in the New Year Honours list.
He said he hopes to find comfort in recordings of his father’s radio broadcasts one day.
Steve Wright was found dead at his £2million flat on Monday morning after paramedics were called to an ‘incident’, MailOnline revealed.
Emergency services rushed to the star’s home in Marylebone, central London, just after 10am on February 12, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His ‘unexpected’ death is not being treated as suspicious with a report being prepared for the coroner, police said.
The radio personality presented programmes for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 for more than four decades before his death aged 69.
George Michael pictured with BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Wright
Steve Wright pictured with radio DJ’s Tony Blackburn (left), and Paul Gambaccini (right)
Steve Wright pictured in 1980
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We were called at 10.07am on Monday 12 February to reports of an incident.
‘We sent a number of resources to the scene. Very sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.’
It comes as the last picture of the legendary broadcaster shows him larking around and taking ‘ironic selfies’ with a friend in New York just weeks before his death.
Steve’s heartbroken brother blamed the BBC star’s death on his poor diet and claimed that he concealed his health problems from his family, MailOnline revealed.
Laurence Wright, 65, also shut down claims that the Corporation’s decision to axe him from his long-running Radio 2 Afternoon Show contributed to his death, revealing the veteran star was ‘thankful’ for the rest.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Laurence said: ‘He was aware that he could have looked after himself better, in his lifestyle choices. Obviously we all wish he had.
‘It’s like anyone who doesn’t look after themselves over an extended period. The normal stuff – diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress – he was a very stoic kind of guy as well so if he had something wrong with him and he had to go to have some treatment or go to the doctors, he wouldn’t talk about it.
‘He was the kind of guy who would just carry on, take care of it, not talk about it, not make a big thing, that kind of stoic sort of attitude.
‘That’s just how he was – that probably didn’t help really, because he wouldn’t have help or take advice necessarily.’
Laurence Wright (pictured), the brother of Steve Wright, blamed the DJ’s death on his poor diet and claims he hid health problems from his family
Wright in a photo taken in 1995
He said Steve didn’t feel he should have been sacked from his popular show – but needed a break.
Laurence, a director of a company in the health industry, says his older brother’s tendency for eating out at restaurants combined with his reluctance to talk about various ‘health issues’, keeping his family in the dark, were the main factors behind his shock death at the age of 69.
