Journalist Glenn Greenwald shared some tragic news on Tuesday: his partner David Miranda has died at the age of 37.
“It is with the most profound sadness that I announce the passing away of my husband,” Greenwald, 56, tweeted Tuesday.
Greenwald, an American expatriate living in Brazil, said Miranda suffered a "life-threatening illness… from a suddenly inflamed and infected abdominal region that quickly spread via his blood to multiple organs."
Miranda, who had served in Brazil's congress since 2019, had been in the Intensive Care Unit for nine months fighting the illness. He died just a day before his 38th birthday, Greenwald said.
"He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends," Greenwald wrote.
The cause of death was pancreatitis and gastrointestinal infection that progressed to sepsis, doctors told the Daily Mail.
The couple met in 2005 while Greenwald was vacationing in Rio de Janeiro, and they moved in together five days later. Greenwald said Miranda showed him how to be a father to the couple's two adopted boys.
"He was the most dedicated and loving parent. He taught me how to be a father. And our truly exceptional boys — with their own difficult start to live — is his greatest legacy,” Greenwald wrote.
Miranda was a vocal critic of Brazil's former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil's current president Lula paid tribute to Miranda, whom he called a "young man with an extraordinary trajectory."
Greenwald noted that Miranda grew up a poor orphan in a Rio favela and was the first openly gay man elected to the Rio city council in 2016.
“Because of how David grew up, there were always many assumptions made by those who didn’t know him,” Greenwald wrote. “Anyone who did will tell you there was nobody with a stronger will or life force.”
Greenwald became internationally famous for working with whistleblower Edward Snowden to expose mass domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens by the National Security Agency.
Once a darling of the left, Greenwald has become known in recent years as a fierce critic of the Democratic party's embrace of authoritarianism. The civil libertarian was a frequent guest on Tucker Carlson Tonight before the top-rated cable news program was abruptly axed last month.
