Savannah Guthrie and her family have navigated difficult terrain before. Amid news of her mother, Nancy Guthrie‘s, missing-persons case, many are learning more about the Guthries, including Savannah’s late father, Charles Guthrie. He died when she was just a teenager, which the Today co-anchor has opened up about over the years.
In her 2024 faith-oriented book, Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere, Savannah recalled the heartbreak she went through when her dad died.
“It cracked open our family and crushed us,” she said in an interview at the time while promoting her book.
Learn about Charles and how his death affected Savannah’s family below.
Savannah’s dad, Charles, was the inspiration behind the NBC personality’s son’s name. He died when she was just 16 years old.
Charles died of a sudden heart attack. She recalled the traumatic loss in her family during a February 2024 interview with People.
“My father died when I was 16. I think about him all the time,” she said. “He was deep and complicated, and he didn’t talk to us like little kids. He told us things that I didn’t understand at the time but later would remember, long after he died.”
