HOUSTON (CN) - George Herbert Walker Bush, the patriarch of a political dynasty, died in Houston on Friday. He was 94.
He is survived by his children George W., Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. His wife Barbara died earlier this year.
"George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for," George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, said in a statement. "The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad, and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens.”
As a Navy pilot during World War II, the elder Bush flew 58 combat missions and had a brush with death in September 1944, when Japanese forces shot down his plane. He parachuted out and floated for hours in a raft in the Pacific Ocean before a U.S. submarine crew rescued him.
One member of Bush’s crew died in the wreck when his parachute failed to deploy.
Raised in New England in the Episcopal Church, Bush said his near-death experience raised this question for him, "Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?"
More than he could have imagined.
After serving in the war, Bush married Barbara Pierce and attended Yale University, graduating in two and a half years with a degree in economics and playing first base as captain for the Bulldogs’ baseball team in the first two College World Series.
Upon graduating from Yale in 1948, Bush went to West Texas where he used his father’s connections to find success in the oil industry. He started as an oil drilling equipment salesman. In 1951 he founded his own oil development company, which made him a millionaire.
Bush got his start in politics after moving his family—wife Barbara and their five kids—from West Texas to Houston in 1959. Local Republicans elected him chairman of the Harris County Republican Party in 1963. Houston is Harris County’s seat.
Not known for his public speaking skills, Bush nonetheless quickly ascended the political ladder, winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1966, and serving three terms before leaving the office for an unsuccessful U.S. Senate run in 1970.
Despite the Senate campaign defeat, Bush’s political career went international. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, then as the U.S. envoy to China from 1971 to 1975 and followed up with a two-year term as Central Intelligence Agency director.
After a brief hiatus from politics, Bush re-emerged more ambitious than ever. He ran for president in 1980, but lost in the Republican primary to Ronald Reagan, who selected Bush as his vice president on his way to winning the presidency.
Bush’s ascension to the presidency seemed inevitable after eight years as vice president.
He won the 1988 presidential election, famously stating during an acceptance speech for the party’s nomination at the 1988 Republican National Convention, “Read my lips: no new taxes.”
That vow came back to haunt Bush, who unlike today’s Republican leaders thought it wise to reduce the federal deficit that had ballooned to nearly $220 billion when Bush took office in 1989 with the heavy military spending and tax cuts of the Reagan administration.