Meredith Vieira's husband dies at 76 after lengthy MS battle

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Meredith Vieira is mourning the loss of her husband.

Richard Cohen died at 76 years old after a lengthy battle with MS on Christmas Eve, the Today show announced on Tuesday, January 7. He also had pneumonia at the time of his death. Vieira was a co-anchor on the morning show from September 2006 until June 2011 and began popping in as a guest co-anchor during the fourth hour, Today with Hoda & Jenna, in 2019.

Hoda Kotb told viewers that he was "surrounded by his family and love" at the time.

Vieira, 71, and Cohen were married for 38 years and have three children together, sons Ben, 36, and Gabe, 34, and daughter Lily, 32.

Kotb noted that the family was staying together since Thanksgiving due to Cohen's health concerns.

" concerned they were going to lose him early," she said. "Instead, they got a glorious month with their dad."

Savannah Guthrie noted that Vieira is "in really good spirits" despite her heartbreak, adding that "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."

Cohen was a journalist who worked for CNN, CBS News and The New York Times among other publications.

He was first diagnosed with MS when he was just 25 years old.

"I dropped a coffeepot for no reason," he told Yahoo Lifestyle in a 2019 interview. "I fell off a curb for no reason. I noticed a little numbness in my leg. 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."

Cohen also battled colon cancer twice.