Savannah Guthrie was born in Melbourne, Australia, the youngest of three siblings, while dad Charles Guthrie was transferred for work, after which the family moved to Tucson, Ariz., when she was 2.
The Today anchor was 16 when Charles died of a heart attack in 1988. She has paid tribute to him frequently over the years, including in 2014 when she was expecting her first baby with husband Mike Feldman.
“My father was a seemingly unlikely mix of qualities: always strong, sometimes terrifying, loyal to the end, and disarmingly gentle and tender when it counted,” Savannah wrote on Today.com. “He was also tall, affectionate and funny; he had that personality that people describe as “lighting up the room.”
She expressed hope that, in addition to getting Mike’s “quick wit, his peaceful disposition, his kindness,” their child would also inherit her late father’s integrity and moral clarity.