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Who Is Katie Couric's Husband? All About John Molner

Katie Couric and John Molner attend the Clive Davis 90th Birthday Celebration at Casa Cipriani on April 06, 2022 in New York City.
Katie Couric and John Molner attend the Clive Davis 90th Birthday Celebration at Casa Cipriani on April 06, 2022 in New York City.

Jamie McCarthy/Getty

Katie Couric has been a household name for decades as a famed anchorwoman.

She's an author, a mother, a hard-hitting journalist and an advocate for colon health. She lost her first husband, Jay Monahan, to colon cancer in 1998 and has opened up about the loss during countless interviews and in her 2021 memoir, Going There.

But nearly 15 years after Monahan's passing, Couric met her second husband, John Molner, and the two quickly fell in love. They were set up by a mutual friend in 2012, got engaged in 2013, and married in an intimate backyard ceremony the following year.

On the couple's eighth wedding anniversary in 2022, however, Couric was diagnosed with breast cancer. She later revealed the diagnosis in a personal essay published in September and also shared that Molner "had a tumor the size of a coconut on his liver" removed just a few months before their 2014 wedding.

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"I just feel super lucky that it was diagnosed when it was," Couric said on the Today show. The journalist had a lumpectomy to remove an olive-sized tumor in July and began radiation in September.

She previously told PEOPLE, "Cancer has had a huge impact on me personally, having lost my husband, Jay, in 1998 from colon cancer and my sister, Emily, two years later from pancreatic cancer. I think the most powerless feeling you have is not being able to help someone you love conquer this disease."

So who is Katie Couric's husband and support system, John Molner? Here is everything to know about the businessman.

He met Couric in 2012

Katie Couric and John Molner attend The Cinema Society, The Hollywood Reporter And Samsung Galaxy S III Special Screening Of "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" on September 2, 2012 in East Hampton, New York
Katie Couric and John Molner attend The Cinema Society, The Hollywood Reporter And Samsung Galaxy S III Special Screening Of "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" on September 2, 2012 in East Hampton, New York

Sonia Moskowitz/Getty

Couric and Molner were set up in 2012 after Couric asked a friend if she knew any single doctors.

"In 2012 I was single, again, and I asked a friend of mine, Molly, who's husband is a trauma surgeon, if her husband knew any other doctors because I thought I'd like to go out with a doctor," Couric told PEOPLE in 2018.

While Molly said no doctors she knew were on the market, she did suggest a certain banker and passed Couric's number along. Molner eventually gave Couric a call and asked her out. Couric later told PEOPLE, "What can I say, he had me at hello."

He and Couric wed in 2014

Katie Couric and John Molner
Katie Couric and John Molner

John Molner Instagram

Molner popped the question at the beach over Labor Day weekend in 2013 and the two got married during an intimate backyard wedding at Couric's East Hampton, New York, home on June 21, 2014.

The couple had their children take part in the ceremony: Molner's kids, Allie and Henry, recited readings from E. E. Cummings and Maya Angelou; Couric's daughter, Ellie, read a love letter from Woodrow Wilson to his wife; and her other daughter, Carrie, sang the Beatles' "I Will."

The former Today anchor told Savannah Guthrie during a 2014 Today show appearance that Molner planned most of the wedding.

"It was very very intimate and special," Couric said. "I hate to be shallow but the weather was perfect and the garden — it was in our backyard — and the garden looked beautiful. We had these incredible dahlias all over the place. It was just perfect."

He worked in finance

Katie Couric and John Molner attend Lincoln Center Fall Gala at Alice Tully Hall on October 24, 2018 in New York City
Katie Couric and John Molner attend Lincoln Center Fall Gala at Alice Tully Hall on October 24, 2018 in New York City

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Molner earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College and a master's in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He went on to work with Brown Brothers Harriman for over 32 years, before retiring in 2014, and now serves as a senior advisor to the financial firm.

In 2018, Molner and Couric co-founded Katie Couric Media, with Molner as CEO.

"I've worked at so many different networks and in so many different jobs and I think in this day and age, there's so much content out there, so much information 24/7, and you're just inundated with that. And there's a lot of misinformation out there. … So I said 'I want to create a media company,' " Couric told Kelly Clarkson during a 2022 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. "And I'm doing it with my husband John. He's the CEO because I'm the more creative person — he's a strong, smart, businessman."

He's a father

John Molner and Alie Molner
John Molner and Alie Molner

John Molner Instagram

The banker has two children from a previous marriage, son Henry and daughter Allie.

On Jan. 11, 2022, Molner posted a sweet birthday tribute to his son Henry along with a photo of the two captioned, "Happy birthday, Hammer. I can't believe you're 27 and anyone who looks at the story post alongside this - with a redacted picture of Henry's drivers license - will also question whether he's really 27. But he is indeed! Proud of you, Ham. Big thanks to the awesome team @barbutonyc for making this celebration so special."

On Feb. 16, 2022, the proud dad posted a photo of him and his daughter Allie to Instagram with the caption, "Cheers to 24! Xoxo."

His perfect weekend includes reading and cooking

In a feature for Katie Couric Media's "Weekend Whats" series in 2020, Molner revealed some of his favorite weekend activities at the time.

According to Molner, his perfect weekend would be filled with digging into a good book (his rec — A Promised Land by Barack Obama) and watching television shows like The Flight Attendant, The Queen's Gambit, The Crown and The Undoing.

His perfect weekend meal was Jonathan Waxman's spaghetti carbonara from his cookbook, The Barbuto Cookbook. And the financier also shared a podcast suggestion, admitting he is an "armcherry" and loves Dax Shepherd's Armchair Expert.

He supported Couric in writing her memoir

John Molner
John Molner

John Molner Instagram

Molner opened up in an interview with Katie Couric Media about what the process was like when his wife was penning her memoir, Going There. Although Molner considers himself a private guy, he was enthusiastic about Couric's memoir.

"I do think of myself as a private person. But Katie's a public figure, and she likes to share her life. I did have some concerns about what she was going to share," he said. "But I also thought that for her to write an important book, she had to be willing to be authentic about her journey. And that's what she's done. There's no point in writing a book like this unless you're ready to be honest with yourself. And I think she absolutely did that."

He went on to say that he's proud of Couric and proud to be part of her life, a character in her memoir and on her Instagram from time to time.

He loves to golf

John Molner and friends
John Molner and friends

John Molner Instagram

He is an avid golfer. Not only did he admit that while Couric was writing her memoir, he'd dip out to golf to give her the creative space she needed, but his Instagram feed is extremely golf-centric.

For his birthday in 2020, he visited Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Molner shared a shot of him and his friends on the course with the caption, "For my birthday my friend Josh made an albatross (2) on the par 5 11th hole. Odds of this— less than one in a million! Driver and 225-yard 3-metal. In the hole… and he dedicated the shot to me for my birthday. He also claimed $20 in beating me in this match. Thanks Josh!"

And in September 2021, he posted a funny photo of himself on Instagram at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York, laying on the grass, arms flailed out to the side, and his feet up on the bench with the caption, "Skins at Sleepy. I'm tired. But I also have 5 skins." (Skins is a game played during golf in which players compete for a prize or money on every hole and each hole has a set value. The winnings are called skins.)

He is funny, according to Couric

Katie Couric and John Molner attend Bette Midler's Hulaween To Benefit NY Restoration Project at New York Midtown Hilton on October 31, 2019 in New York City
Katie Couric and John Molner attend Bette Midler's Hulaween To Benefit NY Restoration Project at New York Midtown Hilton on October 31, 2019 in New York City

Ben Gabbe/Getty

"I met an incredible person and I could not be happier … he's so great and he puts up with me. I'm a total mess and he's super neat, and he calls me tornado," Couric told Clarkson during a 2022 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Couric continued that her hubby posted a shot of her toothpaste tube on Instagram, with the tube squeezed in the middle, and then he joked, "Why does she have seven toothbrushes?"

Couric told PEOPLE in May 2018, "John is so funny, he's just got this incredibly dry and wry sense of humor, and he doesn't take himself too seriously. He's just really good company."

Molner showed off his signature sense of humor by poking fun at Couric in a Dec. 5, 2022, Instagram post. He shared an elegant photo of his wife posing at the White House in a pink gown, which she accessorized with a miniature white handbag. "Perfect, yes," he wrote in the caption. "But if she carried a slightly larger purse perhaps I wouldn't have to stuff lipstick, sunglasses and phone in my tux pocket?"