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.
Who Is Savannah Guthrie’s Dad?
Savannah’s dad, Charles, was the inspiration behind the NBC personality’s son’s name. He died when she was just 16 years old.
What Happened to Charles Guthrie? How Savannah’s Father Died
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.”
Calling the loss of Charles “shocking and devastating,” Savannah added that his death “cracked open our family and crushed us.”
“He was our center,” she continued. “We just idealized him and adored him. He was larger than life, and funny, and charming, and adorable. His loss was so sudden and so shocking. … My father’s death was all of those things for me and for my family.”
However, “with the healing of time, but mostly with the grace of God,” Savannah explained, she and her family were able to “come to terms and come to understand. And through faith, believe not only that God knows what he’s doing, that death is not his plan, but that through faith, we have hope.”
How Old Was Savannah Guthrie’s Dad When He Died?
Charles was in his late 40s when he died of a heart attack. Men’s Journal reported that he was 46, whereas Parade reported he was 49.
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