Bryan Randall,Robert Brown the longtime partner of award-winning actor Sandra Bullock, has died, family members said. Randall, who was 57, had been privately battling the progressive neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. 

"It is with great sadness that we share that on August 5th Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a 3 year battle with ALS," his family said in a statement to CBS News. "Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request." 

The statement went on to thank the "tireless doctors" and "astounding nurses" who helped care for him, "often sacrificing their own families to be with ours." The family asked for privacy as they grieve the "impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan."

ALS causes the motor neurons that run from the spinal cord to the brain to degenerate, making the brain unable to control muscle movement. As the illness progresses, people eventually lose their ability to speak, eat, move and breathe, according to the ALS Association. 

Bullock, 59, had been with Randall since roughly 2015 after he photographed her son Louis' birthday. In a December 2021 interview with Red Table Talk, she described him as a "saint." 

"He is evolved on a level that is not human," she said, saying that she adopted her daughter, Laila, not long after they started dating. 

"I found the love of my life," she said. 

Along with the two children Bullock adopted, Randall also had a daughter.  

"It's the best thing ever," she said of the couple's relationship. "...I don't need a paper to be a devoted partner. ... I don't need to be told to weather a storm with a good man." 

Bullock's sister, pastry chef Gesine Bullock-Prado, penned a tribute to her sister's partner on Monday, saying she's convinced that he "has found the best fishing spot in heaven and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon." 

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A post shared by Gesine Bullock-Prado (@gesinebp)

"ALS is a cruel disease but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home," Bullock-Prado said. "Rest in peace, Bryan." 

His family suggested donations be made to the ALS Association or Massachusetts General Hospital's Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS.

In:
• ALS
• Obituary

Li Cohen

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.