Elizabeth Warren Says Her Oldest Brother Died Of Coronavirus

(CNN) –– Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced Thursday her oldest brother Donald Reed Herring died after testing positive for coronavirus.

“My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from the coronavirus on Tuesday evening,” Warren said in a statement to CNN and in a series of tweets. “He was charming and funny, a natural leader. What made him extra special was his smile. He had a quick, crooked smile that seemed to generate its own light — and to light 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. I'll miss you dearly my brother. pic.twitter.com/oOG6HArEL6

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 23, 2020

She added: “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.”

The Boston Globe first reported the story.

Warren has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but had not publicly shared until Thursday that her brother was sick with the virus.

Warren said Herring joined the Air Force at 19, “spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam.”

When she was running for president, Warren spoke often of her brothers. Her three older brothers were featured in a campaign ad that ran earlier this year when she was still seeking the Democratic nomination. Two of her brothers attended a campaign rally in her hometown of Oklahoma City, but Herring was not in attendance.