
Vernon Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey’s dad, passed on late Friday-July 8 in the wake of battling cancer, Oprah declared in a statement. He was 89.
“Yesterday with family surrounding his bedside I had the sacred honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life, take his last breath,” Oprah said in a tribute to her father shared on Instagram. “We could feel Peace enter the room at his passing.”
A tribute which was written on Oprah Daily, Oprah’s lifestyle outlet, said Oprah had the option to invest energy with her dad in Nashville during his last weeks.
On July 4, Vernon was shocked with a “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Celebration” and terrace grill, where he was encircled by friends and loved ones and family.
The festival was a way for giving her dad his “‘flowers while he’s actually all around ok to smell them,” Oprah said in a post.
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During the festival, Oprah’s companion and gospel singer Wintley Phipps sang for him. “He FELT the love and reveled in it until he could no longer speak,” she wrote.
Vernon was a well known barber in his community and served on the Metro Nashville Council for 16 years.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the family of Vernon Winfrey. Vernon served on Metro Council for 16 years and dedicated his life to entrepreneurship, barbering, and mentoring young men in the community,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said on Twitter. “An Army veteran and deacon, he leaves behind a legacy of service.”
Oprah’s mom, Vernita Lee, passed on in 2018 at 83. Lee was born in Mississippi and brought forth Winfrey as a young lady. Lee and Vernon were not married.