Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) eldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, has died from complications related to the novel coronavirus, the senator confirmed. He was 86.
“My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening,” Warren said in a tweet on Thursday morning. “He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam.”
“He was charming and funny, a natural leader,” she added.
Warren told The Boston Globe, which was first to report the news on Thursday morning, that she is “grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time.”
“And now there’s no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close,” she added. “I will miss my brother.”
According to the newspaper, Herring’s death came three weeks after he first tested positive for the virus that has killed more than 45,000 people in the U.S., the latest John Hopkins University data show.
During his time in the Air Force, Herring reportedly carried out hundreds of combat missions, served as a B-52 squadron pilot and later lieutenant colonel until he retired from his decades-long military career.
He was one of Warren’s three older brothers, each of whom served in the military. All three were featured in a campaign ad earlier this year before Warren dropped out.
In the ad, her brothers, only one of which is a Democrat, discussed how even though they differ with their sister on certain policy issues, the siblings were still united in their common values: “fighting for their families and their communities.”
According to The Boston Globe, Herring’s family said he was admitted to a hospital in February after contracting pneumonia. His family said that years ago he had a battle with cancer.
The family told the newspaper that he had been recovering from his fight with pneumonia at a facility before contracting the coronavirus. They said he died days after being placed in intensive care.
The paper reported that Herring is survived by his wife, Judith Anne Hart, and two sons.
Updated at 11:31 a.m.