Former US President George H.W. Bush, credited for helping to end the Cold War, passed away on Friday at the age of 94, a family spokesperson confirmed. Bush governed the nation from 1989 to 1993.
The 41st president died at 10:10pm (local time) on Friday. Funeral arrangements will be announced some time later, the spokesperson for the Bush family, Jim McGrath, said in a statement.
Former US leader as well, George W. Bush, called his late father “a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for.”
President Donald Trump praised Bush for his “essential authenticity” and “disarming wit.” His “unflappable leadership” brought the US and the world “to a peaceful and victorious conclusion of the Cold War,” Trump said.
Born in Milton, Massachusetts, in 1924, George Herbert Walker Bush came from a well-connected family. His father was a prominent banker who later became a US Senator.
Bush joined the Navy at 18, becoming one of its youngest fighter pilots in World War II. During the war, he flew multiple combat missions and was shot down at one point. Upon his return home, the young man was awarded with a Distinguished Flying Cross.
A Yale graduate, Bush spent two decades working in the oil industry before eventually entering politics.
In 1967, Bush was elected to Congress. His career took a detour into the diplomatic front in 1971 when he was appointed the US envoy to the United Nations. He later held a diplomatic post in Beijing, and even led the CIA for a year.
Bush first moved into the White House in 1981 at the height of the Cold War, serving as vice president under Ronald Reagan.
