Vernon Winfrey was the famed father of Oprah Winfrey’s father.
He was 89.
What happened to Vernon Winfrey?
He died late Friday after a battle with cancer, according to a statement released by Oprah.
“Yesterday, with family at his bedside, I had the sacred distinction of seeing the man responsible for my life, breathe his last breath,” Oprah wrote in an Instagram tribute to her father. “When he died, we felt Peace fill the room.”
Oprah was able to spend time with her father in Nashville during his final weeks, according to a memorial made on Oprah Daily, Oprah’s lifestyle website.
Vernon was delighted on July 4 with a “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Celebration” and backyard BBQ surrounded by friends and loved ones.
The party was a chance for her to send her father “flowers while he’s gone.”
Vernita Lee, Oprah’s mother, died in 2018 at the age of 83. Lee was born in Mississippi and had Winfrey while she was a young lady. Vernon and Lee never married.
