Esteemed journalist Richard Cohen passed away at the age of 76 on Christmas Eve, surrounded by his family and his wife, Meredith Vieira. He had been struggling with pneumonia for the two months preceding his passing and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis over five decades ago.
During the Tuesday, January 7, episode of the Today show, cohosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie conveyed the news. Hoda, aged 60, conveyed that Richard and Meredith’s children, Benjamin, 36, Gabriel, 34, and Lily, 32, had come together for Thanksgiving, feeling "concerned" that it would be their final holiday as a family unit.
“Instead, they were blessed with an entire month with their father,” Hoda, who will conclude her tenure on the Today show with her final episode on Friday, January 10, shared.
Savannah, 53, provided an update regarding Meredith's state, sharing positive news that the former Today show host remains in “very good spirits.”
“She was an incredibly loving and dedicated wife to Richard, who deeply cherished her,” Savannah stated. “Spending time with them was delightful as they were a fun, engaging, irreverent, and cool couple.”
GettyRichard and Meredith, 71, experienced a life brimming with affection after meeting in 1983 and marrying four years later. The couple confronted challenges early in their relationship when the former Washington Post columnist disclosed his MS diagnosis to Meredith during their second date.
“I disclosed my illness early on, having learned its importance from previous experiences,” Richard recounted in an interview with Yahoo! Life in 2019, noting that Meredith “didn’t hesitate” upon learning the news.
Subsequently, Meredith acknowledged that Richard’s health condition “certainly wasn’t a deterrent for me.”
Richard narrated to the publication the moment he became aware of his MS diagnosis, a condition prevalent in his family.
“I dropped a coffeepot without cause. I fell off a curb unprovoked. I noticed slight numbness in my leg,” Richard recalled. “It affected my vision rather swiftly, but I maintained a very active lifestyle and believed I was overcoming it. I was living in denial.”
Besides his longstanding MS diagnosis, Richard also contended with colon cancer twice, in 1999 and 2000.
The ex-journalist experienced a critical pulmonary embolism and was diagnosed with legal blindness.
Meredith retired in 2011, marking the end of her broadcasting career, to devote her attention to Richard and their children.
“Time is a peculiar concept,” she remarked during her final sign-off. “One can never have enough of it, yet it relentlessly moves forward.”
In 2018, Richard published his memoir titled "Chasing Hope: A Patient’s Deep Dive into Stem Cells, Faith, and the Future," which delves into the intricate and evolving relationship between illness and hope.
In the memoir, Richard recounted not only his personal challenges with multiple sclerosis, which he has battled since the age of 25, but also the difficulties encountered by his family.
“Chronic illness affects the entire family. Spouses bear the responsibility of caring for their partners, even when they might secretly wish to push them out of a window,” he penned. “They should not be regarded as mere bystanders when they are actively involved in the struggle.”