Former US Vice President Walter Mondale has died aged 93

Former US Vice President Walter Mondale, a liberal icon of the Democratic Party, died Monday at the age of 93, local media reported.

The press, citing a statement from the family, does not specify the causes of death of who was vice president of the democrat Jimmy carter between 1977 and 1981.

“Today I mourn the passing of my dear friend Walter Mondale, whom I consider to be the best vice president in the history of our country,” Carter said in a statement in which he offered his condolences to the family of his old number two. “He was an invaluable partner and a good servant to the people of Minnesota, the United States and the world,” added.

Prior to his tenure in the White House, Mondale served his home state, Minnesota, as Attorney General from 1960 to 1964, then as a Senator from 1964 to 1976. He then served as Ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996, during his tenure. Bill Clinton.

In 2008, he supported the candidacy of Hillary Clinton to the presidency then supported Barack obama when he got the nomination.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a colleague from Minnesota also mourned Mondale’s death, which she called “kind and dignified to the end.” “Walter Mondale was a real public servant and my friend and mentor,” he wrote on Twitter.

Born January 5, 1928, son of a Methodist pastor and music teacher, Walter Frederick “Fritz” Mondale was a strong advocate for civil rights.

During his tenure in the Senate, he advocated for education, housing, migrant worker rights and child nutrition. He unsuccessfully ran for the White House in 1984, defying the Republican Ronald Reagan, who won re-election.

Mondale chose Representative Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, being the first American candidate from a major party to include a woman in the presidential binomial.

In 2014, his wife Joan Adams, with whom he had three children -Ted, William and Eleanor-, died after a long illness. The first two were engaged in politics and Eleanor, who died in 2011 of cancer, was a journalist.

AFP