Richard M. Cohen, an Emmy award-winning journalist and the husband of Providence native Meredith Vieira, died Dec. 24 at the age of 76.
Vieira’s former “TODAY Show” co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie announced the news on air Tuesday morning.
Kotb said Cohen was “surrounded by his family and love” at the time of his death.
Vieira, who was born in Providence and raised in East Providence, and Cohen were married for 38 years and had three kids together.
“She’s in really good spirits,” Guthrie said of Vieira. “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.”
Meredith Vieira and Richard Cohen attend the Andy Rooney Memorial at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Jan. 12, 2012, in New York City.
Who was Richard M. Cohen?
Cohen was a former Emmy-winning news producer for CBS News and CNN.
He wrote three books, including “Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir,” “Strong at the Broken Places” and “I Want to Kill the Dog.”
Cohen battled multiple sclerosis for more than 50 years after being diagnosed at age 25.
“I was diagnosed when I was 25 years old and essentially told there is no hope,” he said on “TODAY” in 2018. He was also a two-time cancer survivor.
Cohen, who was married to Rhode Island native and former “TODAY Show” host Vieira for more than three decades, told her about his multiple sclerosis diagnosis on their second date, he told Yahoo Life in 2019.
“I think too many people stay closed and don’t tell the truth,” he said about his health battles on TODAY in 2014.
Who is Meredith Vieira?
Vieira is a broadcast journalist and television host from Rhode Island.
She is known for being the original moderator on “The View” from 1997 to 2006. She joined the “TODAY Show” as a host in 2006, before leaving in 2011 to spend more time with her family.
She also previously hosted the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and has hosted “25 Words or Less” since 2019. From 2014 to 2016, she hosted her own daytime talk show, “The Meredith Vieira Show.”
Vieira was born in Providence and raised in East Providence. She graduated from the Lincoln School in 1971 and earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Meredith Vieira’s husband Richard Cohen dies at 76