SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Former US President George HW Bush dead at 94 The 41st US president and patriarch of the Bush political dynasty oversaw the Gulf War and the end of the Cold War.
George HW Bush died about eight months after the death of his wife Barbara Bush [File: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]
Former US President George HW Bush has died at the age of 94, his son has announced.
Bush, the 41st president of the United States, died on Friday, about eight months after the death of his wife, Barbara Bush.
“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died,” his son, former president George W Bush, said in a statement.
“George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.”
Jim McGrath, spokesman for the former president, said the elder Bush died at 10:10pm Central Time (04:10 GMT), adding that funeral arrangements had yet to be scheduled.
Further details about the circumstances of his death were not immediately available.
US President Donald Trump paid tribute to Bush senior in a statement on Twitter, hailing his “sound judgement, common sense and unflappable leadership”.
Former President Barack Obama said: “America has lost a patriot and humble servant in George Herbert Walker Bush. While our hearts are heavy today, they are also filled with gratitude.”
Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993, with the successful campaign to drive Saddam Hussein from Kuwait as his most significant accomplishment.
The one-term president lost the 1992 election to Democrat Bill Clinton, but he went on to see his son, George W, win the White House in 2001. Another son, Jeb, made a presidential run in 2016 but dropped out in the primaries.
‘This will not stand’
The son of a wealthy Republican US Senator, Bush served in the second world war and was elected to two terms in the US Congress in the 1960s.
President Richard Nixon became Bush’s mentor, appointing him ambassador to the United Nations in 1970.
While Nixon later resigned in disgrace, Bush, a savvy political survivor, became head of the CIA in 1976.
He served as Ronald Reagan’s vice president for eight years, before entering the White House in 1989, pledging to make the US a “kinder, gentler” nation.
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