Donald Reed Herring, an Air Force veteran and the oldest brother of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), died in Oklahoma on Tuesday night after suffering complications from the novel coronavirus at age 86, the former presidential candidate confirmed. “I’m grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time. And now there’s no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close,” Warren told the Boston Globe. “I will miss my brother.” Herring, who was a cancer survivor, attended the University of Oklahoma and subsequently joined the Air Force, serving for 20 years. He was awarded with several Army decorations and later retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1973.

Donald, along with Warren’s other two brothers, John Herring and David Herring, was featured in one of her presidential campaign videos earlier this year. David and Donald were both Republicans but agreed with the senator on several key issues. Warren described Don in her autobiography as “adventurous and dashing, and his very existence was like a distant light.”