Richard Cohen, award-winning journalist and husband to former “Today” host Meredith Vieira, died after battling pneumonia for two months, Vieira’s rep confirmed. He was 76.
Cohen died on Christmas Eve, Vieira’s rep Michael Gantz confirmed to USA TODAY on Tuesday. The Hudson Independent was the first to report the news. Cohen was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis over 50 years ago, according to the “Today” show, and he survived two bouts of cancer.
Vieira and Cohen were married for nearly four decades and share three children: Benjamin, 36, Gabriel, 34, and Lily, 32.
Cohen was himself a journalist, winning three Emmy awards for his work at CBS News before moving to CNN. He also spent time at both PBS and ABC.
“You don’t have to be controlled by it,” he told Yahoo Life in 2019 of MS. “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?”
Beyond broadcast, Cohen wrote a health column for The New York Times and authored several books: one chronicling his own health battles and another spotlighting five different individuals dealing with chronic diseases.
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a chronic condition that causes a breakdown of the nerves’ protective coverings resulting in numbness and difficulty walking and seeing, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Left legally blind by MS, Cohen told Vieira about his illness on their second date, according to “Today.”
“I told her about the illness, because I sort of learned the hard way to get it on the table. And she really didn’t blink,” he told Yahoo Life.
His legacy remains not just a prolific career in news but a conversation cracked open about health and life with chronic illness.
