Savannah Guthrie’s father, Charles Guthrie, died of a heart attack when she was a teenager.

Quick Scoop: What Happened

  • Charles Guthrie was a mining engineer and father of three, including Savannah.
  • He had his first heart attack when Savannah was around 13.
  • A few years later, when she was about 16 and in high school, he suffered another heart attack, which was fatal.
  • His death was sudden and deeply traumatic for the family, something Savannah has said “cracked open” their family and changed her life.

How Did Savannah Guthrie’s Dad Die?

Savannah has repeatedly said in interviews and podcasts that her dad died from a heart attack.

He passed away in 1988, when she was a high school senior, after previously surviving an earlier heart attack a few years before.

She has described the loss as shocking because, as a teen, she and her family didn’t fully grasp how serious his heart problems were until it was too late.

What Savannah Has Shared About Her Grief

  • She has talked about still crying for her father decades later and seeing that as a way of saying, “I still love you, Daddy.”
  • On Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast, she compared grief to carrying a cup of water your whole life: at first it spills over, but you always carry it with you.
  • Savannah and her husband named their son after her father as a tribute.

Recent Context (2026)

This topic has resurfaced because her mother, Nancy Guthrie, has recently gone missing in Arizona and is believed to have been abducted, putting renewed attention on Savannah’s family history and the earlier loss of her father.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.