Former US Defense Secretary and one-time presidential candidate, Donald Rumsfeld, has died at the age of 88.
In a statement issued today, Rumsfeld’s family said he “was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico” when he passed away, hailing him “an American statesman and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather”.
Former president George W. Bush, for whom Rumsfeld served as Pentagon chief, recalled his “steady service as a wartime secretary of defence — a duty he carried out with strength, skill, and honour.”
Mr Rumsfeld served under President Gerald Ford from 1975 to 1977 and then under Bush from 2001 to 2006.
