Elizabeth Warren Announces Brother’s Death From Coronavirus in Heartbreaking Twitter Thread: ‘No Family to Hold His Hand’

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) mourned for her brother, Donald Reed Herring, and reflected on his life Thursday after he passed away from the coronavirus.

Warren linked to a Boston Globe profile on her 86 year old brother, a 20 year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, who died on Tuesday three weeks after being diagnosed with the virus. The senator memorialized her brother as a “charming and funny” man and a “natural leader” with a smile that “lit up everyone around him.”

“I’m grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it’s hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time—and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close,” Warren lamented. “I’ll miss you dearly my brother.”

My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening. 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. https://t.co/b8m0xKzAmM

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 23, 2020

I’m grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it’s hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say “I love you” one more time—and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I’ll miss you dearly my brother. pic.twitter.com/oOG6HArEL6

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 23, 2020