When was Richard Cohen diagnosed with MS? Award-winning journalist’s health struggles explored as he dies at 76

76-year-old Richard Cohen, an Emmy award-winning television news producer and journalist, succumbed to a two-month battle with pneumonia on 24 December. However, Cohen's health struggles date back to 1973 when, at the age of 25, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). In an interview with Brain and Life, he spoke about coping with MS. He said:

"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,"

Richard Cohen's father and his father's mother had also been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Cohen was the husband of Today anchor and former View co-host Meredith Vieira. As shared in an interview with Brain and Life, during a second date with Meredith Vieira, his future wife, Richard Cohen, was taken aback by her calm reaction when he shared that he had multiple sclerosis.

In a 2007 speech at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting, Cohen recalled how Vieira, a seasoned journalist, asked him numerous tough questions about his condition, many of which had no clear answers. He said:

"She's a pretty tough journalist and asked me a lot of pertinent questions and there were no answers to most of the questions. It was a leap of faith we were happy to take, but there was always the uncertainty. She looked me in the eye and asked questions for which, of course, there were no answers,"

However, his health battles were surmounted when he was diagnosed with colon cancer in October 1999. Although he was treated for it, it returned less than a year later, an ordeal that he had to share with his three children.

In his book Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir, Richard Cohen also spoke about having vision impairment and yet deciding to take the subway. He described:

"I use my other senses as a hidden guidance system. My ears tell me when a train is approaching, when there is an argument just up the platform. My nose says where to sit. Some subway riders also happen to live down there, sleeping on trains or behind wastebaskets, panhandling and parading their fumes, not the sweetest companions for an outing on the number 1 train."

A little about Richard Cohen's professional legacy

Richard Cohen left a significant mark on the journalism world with his distinguished career. As a senior producer for major news networks like CNN and CBS News, Cohen contributed to some of the most notable reporting in television news.

Richard M. Cohen authored Strong at the Broken Places (2008), a memoir that focuses on Cohen's personal experience living with multiple sclerosis and how the condition has impacted his life and relationships.

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In 2012, he authored I Want to Kill the Dog, a candid, humorous, and insightful exploration of family life, including Cohen's relationship with his wife, Meredith Vieira, and their experiences with his illness.

Richard's son, Gabe Cohen, began his career as a reporter at KHQ-TV in Spokane, Washington, before moving on to KOMO-TV in Seattle. He is currently a reporter for CNN, working out of the network’s Washington, D.C. bureau.

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