Robert Rinder reveals his father has died aged 73

Have YOU got a story? Email tips@dailymail.co.uk See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy LILY JOBSON, SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER Published: 14:46 BST, 20 August 2026 | Updated: 14:57 BST, 20 August 2026

Robert Rinder has revealed his father David has died aged 73 after he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia (LBD).The TV judge, 48, said his father passed away surrounded by his family and was 'held to the last' in a heartfelt post on X.LBD is a progressive brain disorder caused by abnormal protein deposits, called Lewy bodies, that damage brain cells.It affects thinking, movement, sleep and behaviour, and is one of the most common types of progressive dementia alongside Alzheimer's disease.In the emotional post, Rob fondly recalled representing his London cabbie father after he got into trouble for 'bad driving'.Sharing a childhood picture of himself and his father, Rob wrote: 'My dad died yesterday aged 73. I wasn't sure whether to share this but if it brings attention to an illness too few people understand, perhaps it belongs here. Robert Rinder has revealed his father David has died aged 73 after he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia (Rob pictured with his father and younger brother Craig) The TV judge, 48, said his father passed away surrounded by his family and 'held to the last' in a heartfelt post on X'A London cabbie & lifelong Spurs supporter, he was there for every one of my brothers' and his grandsons' football matches.'I once represented him at the Carriage Office for bad driving; I loved him but the prosecution had a case… My parents divorced when I was little so I did not grow up with him at home. 'We were very different men. I loved opera and all its drama; he loved Tottenham and cigarettes. We both took people as we found them and we both loved women, though in rather different ways. I never once doubted his pride in me. 'When I came out he responded with magnificent indifference: I was still his son, there was nothing else to discuss. In the last years of his life Jewish Care became his home, a place where dignity and tenderness were practised every day. 'Walid and Tosin, among so many others there, cared for him and came to kiss him goodbye. A Jewish man, held in his final days by people of different faiths: a quiet reminder that what is sacred in us is also what we share. 'He died with his family around him, loved and held to the last. Funny, beautifully flawed, loving and my dad. Lewy body dementia took him far too young.'It made the familiar strange and the certain uncertain. Dementia can obscure a person but it does not erase them. 'At least one in ten people living with dementia has Lewy body's, around 125,000 people in the UK yet it remains poorly understood, frequently missed & desperately under-researched. 'Please learn its name, learn its signs and if you can support the work to change that.' Rob was raised in north London by their single mother Angela Cohen (pictured) alongside his younger brother CraigRob was raised in north London by their single mother Angela Cohen alongside his younger brother Craig.Speaking to The Sunday Times, Angela previously said of her marriage: 'I got married very young, too young, perhaps, at 19. I was divorced at 29, with two sons'.Robert was born into a Jewish family and received an MBE in 2021 – along with his mother Angela – in recognition of their services to Holocaust education. He learned how seven of his relatives were slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps in the Second World War while delving into his family history on a 2018 episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? WHAT IS LEWY BODY DEMENTIA?Lewy body dementia (LBD) is the second most common form of degenerative dementia after Alzheimer's.It is the form Robin Williams was diagnosed with before he took his own life in 2014.Unlike Alzheimer's, LBD affects the brain regions responsible for vision - as opposed to memory.That means sufferers may start with memory loss, but over time the more debilitating symptoms will be powerful hallucinations, nightmares and spatial-awareness problems.LBD is closely connected to Parkinson's disease, meaning that many sufferers will develop Parkinson's as well - as happened to Robin Williams.SYMPTOMS:The most common symptoms include:Impaired thinking, such as loss of executive function (planning, processing information), memory, or the ability to understand visual information.Fluctuations in cognition, attention or alertness;Problems with movement including tremors, stiffness, slowness and difficulty walkingVisual hallucinations (seeing things that are not present)Sleep disorders, such as acting out one’s dreams while asleepBehavioral and mood symptoms, including depression, apathy, anxiety, agitation, delusions or paranoiaChanges in autonomic body functions, such as blood pressure control, temperature regulation, and bladder and bowel function.HOW IT STARTS:Many sufferers will first develop Parkinson's, suffering physical disabilities, before doctors diagnose their dementia. That is what happened to the late revered actor Robin Williams.Some will start with memory loss that could be mistaken for the more common Alzheimer's disease. Over time, they will develop symptoms more clearly associated with LBD.WHAT CAUSES IT:There is no known cause. What we do know is that risk increases with age.At a cellular level, LBD is characterized by tiny clumps of abnormal proteins produced by the brain when its cells are not working properly.They cause memory problems, although these don’t tend to be as severe as with Alzheimer’s — which is linked to a build-up of the protein beta-amyloid.Another key difference is that Lewy body dementia affects regions of the brain responsible for vision, causing powerful hallucinations, nightmares and spatial-awareness problems.