The Labor Day tote board hit a record of $65 million in 2008, a figure Ford said reflected a full year’s worth of fundraising activities capped off by the telethon.

May 1, 2015 / 3:25 PM EDT / CBS New York NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, a Labor Day television tradition for decades, is ending.

The Labor Day tote board hit a record of $65 million in 2008, a figure Ford said reflected a full year’s worth of fundraising activities capped off by the telethon.

MDA’s first Labor Day weekend telethon was broadcast in 1966 on a single New York station and went on to become the most successful fundraising event in the history of television.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced in May that for the first time in decades, it will not organize a telethon to raise money. Comedian Jerry Lewis hosted the telethon for more than 40 ...

Will Labor Day ever be the same? A television fixture at the end of summer since 1966, Jerry Lewis is relinquishing his role as host of the annual muscular dystrophy telethon.

MDA telethon finds first network home on ABC Annual Labor Day event airs Sept. 1 Jerry Lewis left as emcee in 2010 after 44-year run The Muscular Dystrophy Association may not have Jerry Lewis ...

The Labor Day fantasy football telethon will benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, as CBS Sports is partnering with St. Jude for the month of September to support Childhood Cancer ...

It was broadcast by only one television station on Labor Day weekend in 1966. By the end of the day on Monday, the 42nd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon will have been watched by 40 ...

FILE – In this Sept. 7, 1976, file photo, entertainers Dean Martin, left, and Jerry Lewis appear together on Lewis’s annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Las Vegas, Nev. Lewis, ...

The Labor Day tote board hit a record of $65 million in 2008, a figure Ford said reflected a full year's worth of fundraising activities capped off by the telethon.

PHOTO: FILE – In this Sept. 7, 1976, file photo, entertainers Dean Martin, left, and Jerry Lewis appear together on Lewis’s annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Las Vegas, Nev.