Richard Merrill Cohen (February 14, 1948December 24, 2024) was an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

, and author. He was a senior producer for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Career

Cohen was the recipient of several honors in journalism. He was a three-time

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

award-winning CBS News journalist. He was a former senior producer for CBS News and CNN, and he occasionally wrote columns for the "Health and Fitness" section of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Biography

Cohen was born in New York City on February 14, 1948, the son of Teresa (Beitzer) and Benjamin Cohen, a doctor. He had

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

since he was 25 years old in 1973. He also had two bouts of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

, one in 1999 and one in 2000. Cohen, who was legally blind, wrote an autobiography titled, ''Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir''. Cohen married television personality

Meredith Vieira Meredith Louise Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an American broadcast journalist and Celebrity, television personality. She is best known as the original moderator of the daytime talk show ''The View (talk show), The View'' (1997–2006), the ...

(''NBC News'' Special Correspondent and former co-anchor of '' NBC's Today Show'') on June 14, 1986. They lived in Irvington, Westchester County, New York and had three children. Their middle child, Gabe Cohen, was a reporter at

KHQ-TV KHQ-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship (broadcasting), flagship and namesake of the KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the locally based Cowles Company, whic ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

and at

KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed The CW, CW affiliate ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

and is now a reporter for CNN based out of their Washington, D.C. bureau. Jewish website ''18 Doors'' noted that Vieira described Cohen as "a cultural

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, but not an observant one," though they would celebrate holidays like

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

. Cohen died from respiratory failure at a hospital in

Sleepy Hollow, New York Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about ...

, on December 24, 2024, after battling pneumonia for two months.

References

Published works

* * * 1948 births 2024 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in New York (state) People with multiple sclerosis American television journalists Emmy Award winners American television news producers Peabody Award winners Writers from Connecticut 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American journalists American male journalists 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers Memoirists from New York (state) Deaths from respiratory failure {{US-journalist-1940s-stub