Former US President George HW Bush has died at the age of 94, his son George W Bush has announced.
George Bush Sr, as he was known, passed away on Friday evening, a spokesperson said on behalf of the family.
He was the 41st US president between 1989 to 1993, after serving eight years as vice-president to Ronald Reagan.
Despite achieving popularity ratings of 90%, he was accused of neglecting domestic affairs and was defeated by Bill Clinton in the 1992 election.
He was a World War Two aviator and Texan oil tycoon before entering politics in 1964 as a Republican.
In April, he was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit with an infection, a week after the death of his wife Barbara.
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.
The 41st president had been admitted to hospital following the death of his wife Barbara.
“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.
The former Republican Party stalwart had a form of Parkinson’s disease and a history of pneumonia and other infections.
He will go down in history as the president in charge at the end of the Cold War who took the United States into the first Gulf conflict.
Months into his presidency he was faced with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and he oversaw the removal of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
In August 1990 he responded to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, creating a national coalition led by the US that liberated the oil-rich yet tiny nation but stopped short of toppling the Iraqi dictator.
It was during the presidency of his son, George W Bush, that Saddam’s rule would eventually end.
Bush Snr, a Second World War veteran, was born George Herbert Walker Bush in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12 1924.
He enlisted on his 18th birthday and was the youngest pilot in the US Navy when he received his wings and went on to fly 58 combat missions.
One saw him shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire over the Pacific, leaving him to be rescued by a US submarine.
He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in action.
In January 1945 he married Barbara Pierce, with whom he went on to have six children – George, Robin (who died as a child), John (also known as Jeb), Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy.
His political career saw him occupy a number of positions including congressman, CIA director and Ronald Reagan’s vice president for the Republican Party before becoming the first member of the Bush political family to reach the nation’s top office.
George W Bush would go on to be elected president in 2000 after Mr Clinton and served two terms.
