Richard Cohen, the veteran journalist and husband of Meredith Vieira, has died at the age of 76 after a decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis.
Meredith Vieira and her family are mourning the loss of their patriarch.
Richard Cohen, the veteran CBS News journalist and husband of Vieira, died on Christmas Eve after a 50-year battle with multiple sclerosis, according to a Today article published Jan. 7. He was 76.
Today host Hoda Kotb announced Cohen’s death during a Jan. 7 segment and noted that at the time of his passing, he was “surrounded by his family and love.” Cohost Savannah Guthrie also shared an update on Vieira—who anchored Today until 2011.
“She’s in really good spirits,” she said of the journalist. “She was such a beautiful and devoted wife to Richard, and he adored Meredith. And hanging out with them, they were like the most fun and entertaining, irreverent, cool couple you could hang out with.”
E! News has reached out to Vieira’s reps for additional comment.
Cohen was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 25. According to the Mayo Clinic, MS is “a disease that causes breakdown of the protective covering of nerves,” and “can cause numbness, weakness, trouble walking, vision changes and other symptoms.”
As Cohen previously shared, he opened up about his diagnosis to Vieira on their second date.
“I told her about the illness, because I sort of learned the hard way to get it on the table,” he said during an interview with Yahoo Life in 2019. “And she really didn’t blink.”
Vieira noted that she was not put off by it one bit.
“I’ve always been of the school of thought that you could get hit by a bus the next day, any one of us could,” she said. “It certainly wasn’t enough to scare me off.”
Vieira and Cohen got married in 1986. Together they share three children Benjamin, 36, Gabriel, 34, and Lily, 32.
In addition to his MS battle, Cohen was legally blind and had been diagnosed with colon cancer twice, in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
In 2019, Vieira spoke with People about living with her husband’s MS diagnosis over the years.
“We definitely allow each other to vent,” she told People. “That’s part of the deal. Certainly he’s allowed to vent, because he’s got chronic illness. But I am too. Because there are days I can’t stand it and the limitations it puts on the entire family. It’s good to say it. But we don’t dwell.”
Source: www.eonline.com