Former US president George HW Bush, who helped steer America through the end of the Cold War, has died at age 94, his family announced late Friday.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath says Bush died shortly after 10 pm 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 released on Twitter by a family spokesman.
“George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.”
The elder Bush saw his popularity swell with the United States’ success in the Gulf War in 1991, only to watch it evaporate in a brief but deep recession. The Republican was defeated in his bid for a second term by Democrat Bill Clinton.
Bush had also been a World War II hero, Texas congressman, CIA director and Ronald Reagan’s vice president.
Only one other US president, John Adams, had a son who also became president.