A former United States Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, has died at the age of 100.
In a statement on Wednesday, his consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, said the former US Secretary died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut but failed to give details on the cause of death.
The statement said Kissinger’s family would hold a private funeral, with a memorial service to take place later in New York.
Kissinger, who escaped Nazi Germany in his youth to become one of the most influential and controversial foreign policy figures in American history, was a Harvard academic before becoming the NSA when Richard Nixon became US President in 1968.
Kissinger, who turned 100 in May, had remained active even as a centenarian, travelling to China in July to meet President Xi Jinping of China.
He received a Nobel Peace Prize for helping arrange the end of US military involvement in the Vietnam War. He is credited with secret diplomacy that helped former President Richard Nixon open communist China to the US and the West, highlighted by Nixon’s visit to the country in 1972.
Kissinger is survived by Nancy, his wife of nearly 50 years, two children from a previous marriage, and five grandchildren, his consulting firm said.
