"I'm grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it's hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time," the senator said in a statement

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Thursday morning that her older brother Don Reed died this week of the novel coronavirus. He was 86, according to The Boston Globe.

The Globe reported that Reed, whose full name was Don Reed Herring, tested positive for the virus about three weeks ago and died Tuesday in Norman, Oklahoma.

In a statement, Warren, the youngest of four siblings, remembered her brother's spirit, buoyancy and strength of character.

She shared family photos of him, including in the cockpit of a small plane.

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"He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam," said Warren, 70. "He was charming and funny, a natural leader."

"What made him extra special was his smile-quick and crooked, it always seemed to generate its own light, one that lit up everyone around him," she continued.

The healthcare protocols around treating him meant Reed died alone, Warren said - its own kind of heartbreak. He had been living in Newcastle, Oklahoma, but was in a rehab after being hospitalized with pneumonia in February, the Globe reported.

He died six days after being hospitalized, per the Globe. He had tested positive in early April.

According to the paper, the last time Warren spoke with him was on Sunday.

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"I'm grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it's hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time-and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close," she said in her statement. "I'll miss you dearly my brother."

According to the Globe, Reed joined the Air Force as an enlistee rather than finish college at the University of Oklahoma and he ultimately flew nearly 300 combat missions. He retired in 1973 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, then went into the auto business with a detailing shop.

Warren invoked her brothers repeatedly while running for president this year and last. (She ended her bid in March.)

A key part of her stump speech was that two of her siblings were Republicans but they had found common ground with her; and the three appeared in a video for her campaign.

Reed is survived by his siblings - Warren as well as brothers David and John Herring - wife Judith Anne Hart and two sons, according to the Globe.

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