Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s eldest brother died from the coronavirus earlier this week, the Massachusetts Democrat revealed Thursday, becoming one of the first known casualties of the global pandemic to directly touch the life of a high-ranking American political figure.

Don Reed Herring died Tuesday evening, the senator announced on Twitter. “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 wrote.


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

“What made him extra special was his smile—quick and crooked, it always seemed to generate its own light, one that lit up everyone around him,” Warren continued. “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.”