The 88-year-old father of media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Vernon Winfrey, has passed away.

Winfrey stated that her father passed away on Friday while delivering the news.

She disclosed that the 88-year-old passed away with “family gathered at his bedside.”

The cause of his passing was not made known by Winfrey.

She did, however, state that before he passed away, he “could no longer speak.”

“Less than a week ago we honored my father in his own backyard. My friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps saluted him with a song. He felt the love and reveled in it until he could no longer speak.” 

“Yesterday with family surrounding his bedside, I had the sacred honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life, take his last breath. We could feel peace enter the room at his passing.”

“That Peace still abides. All is well. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts.”

Vernon was a businessman who owned a barbershop before he passed away.

The departed was born on August 21, 1933, in the American city of Greenville, Mississippi.