- The Today show shared the news Tuesday morning
- He died on Christmas Eve after a battle with pneumonia
- He overcame cancer twice and battled multiple sclerosis for more than fifty years
Richard Cohen, the husband of former Today host Meredith Vieira, has died at the age of 76 after beating cancer twice and battling multiple sclerosis for more than 50 years.
The Today show shared the news Tuesday morning that he had died on Christmas Eve after a battle with pneumonia.
Hoda Kotb said on the show that he was “surrounded by his family and love” when he died.
The couple married in 1986 and welcomed three children together: sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32.
Hoda explained that their children had been staying with them since Thanksgiving.
“(They were) worried about losing him early. Instead, they got a glorious month with their father,” she added.
Savannah Guthrie also gave some insight into how Meredith is doing.
“She’s in really good spirits,” she said. ‘She was such a beautiful and devoted wife to Richard and he adored Meredith.
Richard Cohen, the husband of former Today host Meredith Vieira, has died at the age of 76 after beating cancer twice and living with multiple sclerosis for decades. They can be seen in 2018
He and Meredith (seen in 2019) married in 1986 and welcomed three children together: sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32
“And when they hung out with them, they were the most fun and entertaining, irreverent, cool couple you could hang out with.”
Richard was an acclaimed journalist, TV producer and author who previously worked as a senior producer at CNN and CBS News.
He also wrote columns for the New York Times Health and Fitness section.
Richard was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 25 years old.
“I dropped a coffee pot for no reason. I fell off a curb for no reason. “I noticed a little bit of numbness in my leg,” he previously said Yahoo life about how he realized he had the disease.
‘It hit my eyesight quite quickly, but apart from that I was very active physically and I thought I was really beating it. I was living in denial.”
He also revealed that he told Meredith about his condition during their first date.
“I learned the hard way to get it on the table,” he explained. “She didn’t blink.”
The Today show shared the news Tuesday morning that he had died on Christmas Eve after a battle with pneumonia. The family is seen in 2005
Richard was an acclaimed journalist, TV producer and author who previously worked as a senior producer at CNN and CBS News. He and Meredith are seen in 2003
Richard also battled colon cancer twice – first in 1999 and again in 2000 – and was legally blind.
He wrote several books about living with the disease.
Meredith is best known for co-hosting the Today show from 2006 to 2011.
She was also one of the original moderators and co-hosts of The View and hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for eleven seasons from 2002 to 2013.
The media personality launched her own talk show in 2014, called The Meredith Vieira Show, which lasted for two seasons.
She is now the host of the Fox game series 25 Words or Less.