For more than a decade, loyal viewers of NBC’s “Today” show have known this Nancy Guthriethe beloved mother of longtime host Savannah Guthrie.
“She lived a life of integrity and loyalty,” Savannah Guthrie said four years ago, beaming as she paid tribute to her mother on her 80th birthday.
“She tells the truth, whether you really want to hear the truth or not,” Guthrie said, calling her mother an inspiration and a woman of great faith.
Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday asked for prayers to help find her 84-year-old mother, after authorities said they believed she was dead. Taken against her will Over the weekend from home in Tucson, Arizona, where she lives alone.
Authorities do not believe the kidnapping was part of a robbery or kidnapping-for-ransom plot, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who was not authorized to discuss details of the case publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Her disappearance has rocked NBC’s flagship morning show, where Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances. She once participated in a cooking show and appeared on the set to surprise her daughter.
“For all of us who knew and loved her, this is personal,” Jenna Bush Hager, one of the show’s hosts, said during Tuesday’s broadcast.
Savannah Guthrie, who was not present at the anchor’s desk Tuesday, described her mother over the years as adventurous, inquisitive and selfless.
“She faced the unimaginable challenges of her life with grit, without self-pity, with determination and always with unwavering faith,” Savannah Guthrie ’22 said.
She credited her mother with keeping the family together after her father died of a heart attack at age 49, when Savannah Guthrie — the youngest of three siblings — was just 16.
“When my father died, our family was sticking together for dear life because it was such a shock,” she said on the “Today” show in 2017. “We were just trying to figure out how to be a family of four when we had always been a family of five.”
The loss of her father, a man Savannah Guthrie described as having great character and unwavering integrity, brought the family closer.
Both daughters decided to live at home during college and made sure their mother was not alone on weekends, Savannah Guthrie said.
“My mom did such a unique and amazing job to create this foundation for us,” Savannah’s older sister, Annie, said during an appearance on the “Today” show nearly a decade ago.
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Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo reported from Washington.