Who Is Norah O'Donnell's Husband? All About Geoff Tracy

CBS News journalist Norah O’Donnell shares three kids with her husband, Geoff Tracy

Norah O'Donnell has been the face of CBS News for more than a decade.

She has been a leading force in the news industry, especially in political reporting, but she recently shared that the 2024 election cycle will be her last as a CBS News journalist.

“I have spent 12 years in the anchor chair here at CBS News, tied to a daily broadcast and the rigors of a relentless news cycle,” O'Donnell wrote in a letter to staff in July 2024. “It’s time to do something different. This presidential election will be my seventh as a journalist, and for many of us in this business, we tend to look at our careers in terms of these milestone events.”

While O'Donnell was hitting milestones in her career, she was also experiencing them in her personal life. After marrying her college sweetheart, Geoff Tracy, a chef and restaurant owner, in 2001, the pair welcomed three children together. O'Donnell has balanced career and personal success with the help of her supportive husband.

“The one nugget that really stands out is my mom saying, ‘Marry your best friend,’ ” O’Donnell told Woman's World. “That turned out to be good advice. Having a partner who makes you laugh and who is supportive means everything.”

O'Donnell and Tracy have often spoken about their strong bond and the life they have built with their children, Henry, Grace and Riley.

So, who is Norah O'Donnell's husband? Here’s everything to know about Geoff Tracy and his relationship with the journalist.

He went to culinary school

Tracy attended Georgetown University, where he graduated with a degree in theology, but his education didn't stop there.

He left Washington, D.C., to attend the Culinary Institute of America and opened his first restaurant before he was 30 years old.

He owns restaurants across the D.C. area

Tracy created his restaurants while in his 20s and fresh out of culinary school. He opened Chef Geoff's in 2000 — a year before marrying O'Donnell — followed by Chef Geoff's Downtown in 2002.

He has since created a restaurant group, Chef Geoff’s Deluxe Hospitality, where his restaurants joined forces with two other local eateries.

“We’re not trying to meld the brands here. We want to maintain them differently,” he told Eater DC of the restaurant group in 2018.“This definitely positions us to be strong and successful."

They met in college

O'Donnell and Tracy's love story began in 1991 when they met in a cafeteria line at Georgetown University. It was O'Donnell's first week at the school, and Tracy used the boarding school-branded sweatshirt his roommate was wearing to strike up a conversation. In a 2023 interview with Georgetown, the couple remembered what started it all.

"We used the sweatshirt to make the opening conversation. You have to have some sort of in, otherwise, you’re just a random," Tracy told the university's magazine in February 2023. "So we found the courage and went over and said 'hi' ... In retrospect, it’s a little unbelievable that I met the person I’ve been married to my entire life."

For Tracy, it was love at first sight. When asked when he knew the relationship with O'Donnell was serious, he said: "For me, it was in the cafeteria line. That was it right away. It took her a little bit longer to come around."

O'Donnell responded, "Isn’t that sweet? For Geoff, it was love at first sight. Which I do think is important for a guy to be totally in love with the woman."

The couple has been together ever since, more than half of their lives.

They tied the knot in 2001

After meeting on the Georgetown University campus, O'Donnell and Tracy took their relationship to the next level on the school's grounds. They tied the knot at Georgetown's Dahlgren Chapel in 2001.

The married couple decided to put down roots in Washington, D.C., following their experience at the university.

“Georgetown is a huge part of our identity,” Tracy told the school magazine. “Washington, D.C., became our home because of Georgetown University.”

O'Donnell and Tracy share three children

O'Donnell and Tracy have three kids together — twins Henry and Grace, and a daughter named Riley. When it comes to parenting, the couple shows their love through cooking.

“We’re big on food in our house,” O'Donnell told PEOPLE in 2019. “To cook something for the people you love is like therapy. To make a beautiful meal for your family or friend, it’s incredibly relaxing and also brings me a lot of joy.”

While they are hands-on parents, with O'Donnell and Tracy documenting the kids learning to drive and going off to prom on their Instagram accounts, raising kids during the COVID-19 pandemic while working from home put the family to the test.

“Right now, I’m a work-at-home mom and the managing editor of the CBS Evening News,” O'Donnell told PEOPLE in 2020. “I was on a call with someone from the White House, and my daughter was shouting at me that the printer doesn’t work. Lots of times, I’m on a conference call and cooking breakfast for the kids at the same time. Luckily, they have the ‘stop video’ feature on Zoom.”

They wrote a cookbook together

The couple's passion for cooking, as well as parenting, led them to create a cookbook for kids together. Baby Love: Healthy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler, released in 2010,was written to help other parents make their own baby food, as O'Donnell and Tracy say they never purchased a single can of baby food for their own kids.

Even when rushing off to work and hearing from a nanny that her kids were running low on food, O'Donnell didn't shop in the baby food section at the market. “I raced off to the store, bought a bunch of organic apples so I didn’t need to peel them, cut them up, steamed them and put them in the blender and voila: I had applesauce,” O’Donnell recalled. “And the house smelled beautiful.”

Although Tracy is a professional chef, O'Donnell assured readers that even the least experienced cook can recreate the healthy and nutritious recipes the pair concocted. “I’m not a professional chef and I’m certainly not a very good cook,” the TV news personality said, “but it was very easy for me to prepare a recipe.”

He is supportive of her career

Tracy was supportive of O'Donnell's career from the start, but during her longest and toughest days reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Tracy really stepped up for his wife.

“The other night, I came home after a long day and was touched that my husband had dinner waiting for me,” she told Woman's World.

Tracy also shows his support for O'Donnell on his Instagram. In July 2024, he posted a photo of the pair together with the caption, "Most beautiful person in the world. Lucky guy."

In another Instagram post in honor of their 22nd wedding anniversary in 2023, Tracy wrote, "Every once in a while I do something right. 💍❤️22yrs."

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