Former Today anchor Meredith Vieira‘s husband Richard Cohen has died at age 76, after overcoming cancer twice and battling multiple sclerosis for over five decades.
The Today show shared the news on Tuesday morning that he had passed away on Christmas Eve following a battle with pneumonia.
Hoda Kotb said on the show that he was ‘surrounded by his family and love’ when he died.
The couple wed in 1986 and welcomed three kids together, sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32.
Hoda explained that their kids had been staying with them since Thanksgiving.
‘[They were] concerned they were going to lose him early. Instead, they got a glorious month with their dad,’ 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.
Former Today anchor Meredith Vieira ‘s husband Richard Cohen has died at age 76, after overcoming cancer twice and living with multiple sclerosis for decades. They’re seen in 2018
He and Meredith (seen in 2019) wed in 1986 and welcomed three kids together, sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32
‘And hanging out with them, they were like the most fun and entertaining, irreverent, cool couple you could hang out with.’
Richard was an acclaimed journalist, TV producer, and author who previously served as a senior producer on CNN and CBS News.
He also wrote columns for the Health and Fitness section of the New York Times.
Richard was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 25 years old.
‘I dropped a coffeepot for no reason. I fell off a curb for no reason. I noticed a little numbness in my leg,’ he previously told Yahoo Life about how he realized he had the disease.
‘It hit my eyesight fairly quickly, but other than 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 on their first date.
‘I sort of learned the hard way to get it on the table,’ he explained. ‘She didn’t blink.’
The Today show shared the news on Tuesday morning that he had passed away on Christmas Eve following a battle with pneumonia. The family is seen in 2005
Richard was an acclaimed journalist, TV producer, and author who previously served as a senior producer on CNN and CBS News. He and Meredith are seen in 2003
He added during the 2019 interview, ‘You don’t have to be controlled by it. I can give you a long list of things that I can’t do anymore. You just sort of learn to accept that.
‘I look at our three kids, I look at our relationship, I’ve written four books … what do I have to complain about?’
Multiple sclerosis is a disease ‘that causes breakdown of the protective covering of nerves,’ per MayoClinic.
It can cause numbness, weakness, trouble walking, and vision changes, among other things.
Richard wrote multiple books about living with the illness.
He also battled colon cancer twice – first in 1999 and again in 2000 – and was legally blind.
Meredith is best known for being a co-host on the Today show from 2006 until 2011.
She also was one of the original moderators and co-hosts on The View and hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for 11 seasons from 2002 until 2013.
The media personality launched her own talk show, called The Meredith Vieira Show, in 2014 and it went on for two seasons.
She is now the host of the Fox game series 25 Words or Less.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .