Richard Cohen, veteran journalist and husband of former TODAY anchor Meredith Vieira, died on Christmas Eve at 76 after a bout with pneumonia, according to The Hudson Independent, which first reported his death.
Cohen lived with multiple sclerosis for over 50 years and also survived two battles with colon cancer. Born on February 14, 1948, in New York City, he was diagnosed with MS at the age of 25, shortly after beginning his career at ABC News as an associate producer. He and Vieira were married for 38 years. They have three children together.
"I was diagnosed when I was 25 years old and essentially told there is no hope," he said while appearing on TODAY with Vieira in 2018.
"Diagnosed and adios. Nothing much we can do," he added.
Cohen said in a 2007 interview with the Brain and Life publication: "I don't deny that I have the illness. I did for a while, and I think everybody does. But you come face to face with the symptoms soon enough. You'd be really out of touch with reality if you tried to play that game."
"Still, what I denied then and what I deny now is the inevitability, the certainty of possible outcomes. I know I deteriorate because it's a progressive disease, but I'm not going to make assumptions about wheelchairs and not being able to go up steps and not being able to work—things like that," Cohen added.
Richard Cohen, an Emmy-winning journalist, served as a senior producer at CBS News and later at CNN. He was also a prolific writer, penning books about living with multiple sclerosis and advocating for those with chronic illnesses. Additionally, Cohen contributed to the "Health and Fitness" column at The New York Times.
In an interview with Today, Vieira recalled their second date, when Cohen disclosed his MS diagnosis. "I've always been of the school of thought that you could get hit by a bus the next day, any one of us could. It certainly wasn't enough to scare me off," she said.
Vieira stepped down from the Today show in 2011, citing her desire to spend more time with her family, including their two sons, Benjamin and Gabriel, and daughter, Lily.
