Who Was Meredith Vieira's Husband Richard Cohen? All About the Late Journalist and Their Decades-Long Romance (Which Started at CBS)

The broadcast journalist and her husband, who died in December 2024, met while working while working for 'CBS Evening News' in the 1980s

Meredith Vieira and her husband, Richard M. Cohen, were married for over 30 years until his death on Christmas Eve in 2024.

Cohen, who worked in entertainment as a TV news producer and journalist, had been living with multiple sclerosis for over 50 years before his death at age 76. News of his death was announced by Vieira's former Today colleague, Hoda Kotb, during the show's Jan. 7 broadcast. According to Kotb, Cohen was "surrounded by his family and love" at the time of his death, including his wife Vieira and their three adult children.

Vieira and Cohen met while working for CBS Evening News and wed in 1986. The veteran journalist was by Cohen's side as he dealt with MS and survived two cancer diagnoses throughout their 38 years together. The couple were open about Cohen's health struggles and how they endured the tough times together.

“I think that Richard was dealt a lousy hand," she told Good Housekeeping in May 2013. "I get angry at that: Why should he have to go through all this? But I've seen what [adversity] does in terms of making you the person you are. I look at the kind of person Richard is and who the kids are. That's the result of what he's been through.”

Vieira added, “I think about how his mother dealt with his dad, who also had MS. How great she was with him, and how loving and supportive. I took some cues from her: You live your life every day; it is what it is. I'm not saying it's a cakewalk at all ... But I don't tend to go there, I just live every day.”

From his award-winning TV career to the family he raised with The Meredith Vieira Show host, here is everything to know about Meredith Vieira's late husband, Richard Cohen.

He was a journalist, TV producer and author

Cohen was an Emmy award-winning TV news producer and journalist. He started his career as an associate producer at ABC News and later attended Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. He went on to produce for several networks, including PBS’s McNeil Lehrer Report, The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and CNN’s Bill Clinton of Arkansas. 

Cohen was also a best-selling author and wrote several books, including 2004's Blindsided, 2008's Strong at the Broken Places, 2012's I Want to Kill the Dog and most recently, 2018's Chasing Hope. 

He was diagnosed with MS at 25

At 25, Cohen was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that targets the central nervous system. He was the third member of his family to be diagnosed with the disease.

During an interview with PEOPLE in September 2019, Vieira opened up about how the pair coped with tough days of illness.

“We definitely allow each other to vent,” she said. “That’s part of the deal. Certainly he’s allowed to vent, because he’s got chronic illness. But I am too. Because there are days I can’t stand it and the limitations it puts on the entire family. It’s good to say it. But we don’t dwell."

Vieira also shared that she and Cohen used humor to deal with challenges. “Richard is a very funny person, and I have a good sense of humor,” she said. “So that’s sort of our thing.”

He and Vieira met while working for CBS Evening News

In his book Chasing Hope, Cohen shared that he and Vieira first met while working for CBS Evening News. 

“It was contempt at first sight, as we both like to say. We tentatively circled each other, two-legged animals stalking their prey,” he wrote. “I once found Meredith lying on a couch in her office, watching Looney Tunes. I immediately trashed her. Sarcasm is a wonderful mechanism for flirting.”

Vieira later revealed during a segment of The Meredith Vieira Show that Cohen knew he would marry her even before they formally met.

“Richard heard my voice, he was in television too on the network side, and I was in local news, and he heard my voice coming through,” she said. “I obviously had some piece on local, and they had the monitors up, and he thought, ‘I’m going to marry that woman.’ ” 

He and Vieira wed in 1986

Vieira and Cohen tied the knot in 1986, after a few years of dating. In Chasing Hope, Cohen shared that he told the TV host about his MS diagnosis early on in their relationship, and it didn’t faze her.

“I had told her about the MS in the earliest days of our relationship because I wanted us to deal with the subject before we got too serious. She never inched,” he wrote. “We hiked and biked, traveled and jogged, wherever we went. We owned the world.”

They shared three children 

Vieira and Cohen had three children together: sons Benjamin and Gabriel and daughter Lily.

During an interview with Brain and Life Magazine in July 2007, Cohen opened up about raising his children — who are now adults — while living with MS.

"I was very conscious as my kids were growing up of what I could not do with them,” he said. “I have boys and I could not do a lot of athletic stuff with them. My daughter does that stuff now and I can't do that with her, either. But what I realized is that you compensate by giving them other things, spending time talking with them and sharing things with them.”

Cohen added, “When my older kid was going through the whole college process I went and looked at all the schools with him. It was stressful because it was hard to move around and everything, but I was glad to do it."

He died on Christmas Eve in 2024

After living with multiple sclerosis for over 50 years, Cohen died on Dec. 24, 2024.

Today host Hoda Kotb announced the news of his death on the morning show two weeks later, saying he was "surrounded by his family and love" at the time of his death, including Vieira and their three kids.

Savannah Guthrie added of Vieira, "She's in really good spirits. 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."