George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, Dies at 94
George H. Bush is survived by five children, 17 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and two siblings. He was preceded in death by his daughter Pauline, two brothers, and his wife of 73 years, Barbara.
Bush was born to U.S. Senator Prescott Bush from Connecticut, but went straight from Andover to the front lines of World War II. He flew 58 combat missions in the Pacific theater in a torpedo bomber as the U.S. Navy’s youngest pilot, survived being shot down and even was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He became an oil tycoon in Texas, and after earning his own millions he entered the realm of politics, reaching the pinnacle when he was voted into the presidency in 1988 for one term. He lost his re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton, but it was his son George W. Bush that succeeded him after two terms in office.
Bush aged with grace, famously celebrating his 90th birthday on June 12, 2014, by making a tandem parachute jump out of a helicopter near his summer home in Maine. He was suffering from a form on Parkinson’s that caused tremors in his legs and mandated the use of an electronic wheelchair for mobility.
See Stephen M. Silverman, George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States, Dies at 94, People, December 1, 2018.