Richard M. Cohen, a journalist and longtime husband of Meredith Vieira, has died after living with multiple sclerosis for more than 50 years and surviving two bouts of colon cancer. He was 76.

Cohen, a broadcast journalist like his wife, died on Christmas Eve. The news was announced Tuesday on “Today,” the NBC morning show that Vieira co-hosted from 2006 to 2011 before stepping down to spend more time with her husband and three children.

“Today” co-host Hoda Kotb said Tuesday that Cohen died “surrounded by his family and his loved ones.” These family members, she told viewers, had just experienced “a glorious month… with their father” after coming home for Thanksgiving because they feared they would “lose him early.”

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In a 2018 appearance on “Today,” Cohen said that when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 25, he was “essentially told there was no hope. Diagnosis and adios, there’s not much we can do.”

The first disease-modifying drug to treat MS was not approved by the FDA until 1993, about 20 years after its diagnosis, but there are now about 20 such drugs on the market. Although such drugs are not a cure for MS, they can delay disease progression, reduce the number of relapses and prevent new damage to the nervous system, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Cohen’s cause of death was not discussed on “Today,” but the Hudson Independent reported it was pneumonia.

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Cohen was born on Valentine’s Day 1948 and married Vieira in June 1986. He was a writer and executive producer for CNN and CBS News and wrote a number of books about living with chronic illness. “Blindsided,” published in 2003, several years after Cohen’s cancer, “explores the impact of illness on the raising of three children and his relationship with his wife, Meredith Vieira,” and “addresses the nature of denial and resilience, as well as the redemptive effects of a… loving family,” said publisher HarperCollins.

Vieira, who has worked in news at all three major U.S. networks, was originally a panelist on “The View,” spent time on “60 Minutes” and hosted the syndicated daytime version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Since 2019, she has been an occasional guest host on the fourth hour of “Today” with Laura Bush and the outgoing Kotb.

In addition to his wife, Cohen is survived by his children Benjamin, Gabriel and Lily Cohen. They are all in their 30s. Gabe Cohen is a reporter for CNN.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.