Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty
Grant Wahl’s widow is paying tribute to her late husband days after the famed soccer and sports journalist’s death.
In a post published on Wahl’sSubstackpage, his wife, Céline Gounder, thanked her husband’s fans for their support following his untimely death from an aortic aneurysm on Friday.
“First and foremost, on behalf of myself and our family, I want to express our deepest gratitude for the outpouring of support, love, and sympathy from around the world,” wrote Gounder, a doctor specializing in medicine, infectious disease, and epidemiology. “This continues to be a very difficult and painful time as we grieve a beloved husband, brother, and friend.”
Before his death, Gounder said her husband reported feeling chest pressure, which she said could have been a symptom of his undetectedascending aortic aneurysm.
Grant Wahl and Céline Gounder.celine gounder/twitter
“No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him,” she wrote, before adding that his death was not related to COVID-19, vaccination status, or anything “nefarious.”
“While the world knew Grant as a great journalist, we knew him as a man who approached the world with openness and love,” Gounder wrote.
“Grant was an incredibly empathetic, dedicated, and loving husband, brother, uncle, and son who was our greatest teammate and fan,” she continued. “We will forever cherish the gift of his life; to share his company was our greatest love and source of joy.”
Gounder also commented on Wahl’s passion for “literature, art, music, food, and wine,” cooking dinner and walking his dogs.
“To know Grant was to know a true renaissance man,” Gounder said.
“My family in France and India aremourninghim, too,” she ended her post. “Grant wasn’t just my family. He was our family.”
RELATED VIDEO: Journalist Grant Wahl Died of an Aortic Aneurysm, Family Says
In an interview with NBC’s Peter King published onsocial mediaWednesday, Gounder said Wahl was the “kind of guy” who knew “when a friend was in crisis, or a family member was in crisis,” and show support to women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.
Gounder told King that he would be honored to have known how many people had praised him for being a significant voice for soccer in the United States.
“I think he would be so honored, I think he would be, glowing with pride, not just for himself, but really for the idea that he helped grow soccer in the way that he has in this country,” she explained. “But Grant still had that midwestern humility, and never had a big head, and would have looked at this as an opportunity to bring others up behind him.”
A memorial for Wahl is being planned, Gounder added, with details to be announced in the near future.
source: people.com
