A lifetime of memories. Zach Braff paid tribute to his best friend Nick Cordero after the Broadway star lost his months-long battle with the novel coronavirus.
“Nick Cordero passed at 11:40am today with his wife and mother by his side,” the Scrubs alum, 45, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, July 5, alongside a black-and-white photo of Cordero and his widow, Amanda Kloots. “I have honestly never known a kinder person. But Covid doesn’t care about the purity of your soul, or the goodness in your heart.”
Braff went on to share the final text message that he received from the Tony nominee before his death.
“The last thing he ever texted me was to look out for his wife and one year old son, Elvis,” the Garden State director wrote. “I promise the world they will never want for anything. I feel so incredibly grateful I got to have Nick Cordero enter my life. Rest In Peace. Rest in Power.”
Kloots announced on Sunday night that Cordero died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The news came more than three months after he was admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. During his battle with the virus, he had to have his right leg amputated and was only conscious a few times.
“God has another angel in heaven now. My darling husband passed away this morning. He was surrounded in love by his family, singing and praying as he gently left this earth,” Kloots wrote via Instagram. “I am in disbelief and hurting everywhere. My heart is broken as I cannot imagine our lives without him. Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband. Elvis and I will miss him in everything we do, everyday.”
She added, “I will love you forever and always my sweet man.”
Cordero and Kloots, who married in September 2017, had been looking to buy a house in L.A. prior to his death. Throughout his hospitalization, she and the couple’s 12-month-old son stayed at Braff’s guesthouse.
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