Vernon Winfrey with Oprah Winfrey. (Photo credit: Adriane Jaeckle / Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey’s father, Vernon Winfrey died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 89 years old.
Winfrey announced her father’s death on Instagram with the caption, “Yesterday with family surrounding his bedside I had the sacred honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life, take his last breath. We could feel Peace enter the room at his passing.”
Earlier in the post, Winfrey wrote about how she had gone to her father’s home in Nashville to celebrate him days before his death.
“Less than a week ago we honored my father in his own backyard,” she wrote. “My friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps saluted him with song. He FELT the love and reveled in it until he could no longer speak.”
According to CNN, Vernon earned a reputation in Nashville as a barber and as a city council member. Nashville Mayor John Cooper released a statement on Twitter regarding Vernon’s death.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Vernon Winfrey,” he wrote. “Vernon served on Metro Council for 16 years and dedicated his life to entrepreneurship, barbering, and mentoring young men in the community. An Army veteran and deacon, he leaves behind a legacy of service.”
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