Former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served two terms under President George W. Bush and was a defining force in post-9/11 American policy, has died at 84, his family announced early Tuesday.
Cheney died overnight “due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease,” according to a family statement.
“His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed,” the statement said.
A lifelong public servant and one of the most influential vice presidents in U.S. history, Cheney’s tenure included the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, policies that made him both highly influential and deeply polarizing.
Cheney’s health issues were well known; he suffered the first of five heart attacks at age 37 and received a heart transplant in 2012.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family said. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Cheney also served as White House chief of staff under President Gerald Ford and later as defense secretary under President George H. W. Bush, overseeing the Gulf War.
