Former US President George H. W. Bush dies at age 94 | World

In 1945, he married Barbara Pierce. Their marriage lasted 73 years until the death of the former first lady on April 17, 2018. The couple has six children: George, Robin (deceased child), John (aka Jeb), Neil, Marvin. and Dorothy.

He studied economics at Yale University and graduated with honors in 1948. The same year he moved to Texas and began working in the oil sector, creating a profitable career: he founded an exploration company in 1951 and, in the 1960s, already president of another company, became a millionaire.

Son of Senator Prescott Bush (elected by Connecticut in 1952), Bush joined the Republican party, more conservative and economically liberal.

In 1967, he became a Member of Parliament for Texas and served for two years until 1970. Between 1971 and 1974, he was ambbadador to the UN and spent 14 months as a representative in China. Between 1976 and 1977, he was director of the CIA, the US intelligence service.

In 1980, Bush tried to run for president but lost and was elected vice-president of Republican Ronald Reagan. As a vice, from 1981 to 1989, Bush was responsible for anti-drug programs and had made diplomatic visits to dozens of countries.

1988, he was appointed to the presidency by the Republican Party. In an intense election campaign with personal attacks on both sides, Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis. The republican had 54% of the popular votes and 426 of the 537 of the votes of the electoral college.

President of the United States at the end of the Cold War, his tenure was marked by profound changes in geopolitics, such as the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

Foreign policy played a central role in his mandate. In December 1989, Bush authorized the sending of troops to Panama to dismiss General Manuel Noriega.

Between 1990 and 1991, the country sent troops with UN support to withdraw soldiers from Saddam Hussein who had invaded Kuwait during the so-called first Gulf War. When the soldiers were withdrawn, he opted for the end of the military operation and did not persecute Hussein.

In his domestic policy, Bush had promised not to raise taxes but he approved this measure in an attempt to reduce the country's deficit.

Bush drew much attention from the media when, in 1992, he vomited and then collapsed at a diplomatic dinner in Japan, attended by more than 100 diplomats. The scene has been filmed and reverberated internationally.

The Republican attempted to represent himself and was defeated by Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1992 elections.

After leaving the presidency, he retired from politics but took part in Campaigns to raise funds for victims of public calamities, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. In the latter case, he participated in the One America Appeal initiative , along with four other former US presidents: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, his son George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

In 2011, he received the Obama Freedom Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed on a civilian of the country.

Dependent on a wheelchair to move a few years ago, the former president continued to make several appearances in public, but his health was becoming more and more fragile.

In November 2012, he was hospitalized and spent nearly two months hospitalized for bronchitis, even going to spend Christmas at the hospital. In December 2014, he again had respiratory problems and returned to the Houston Methodist Hospital.

In July 2015, he was treated in a Maine hospital after fracturing a bone in his neck as a result of a fall. In 2017, he was hospitalized twice for pneumonia, one in January and another in April.

In 2018, he was admitted to the hospital on April 22, with an infection, the day after the funeral of his wife Barbara.