George Shultz, who served in four different Cabinet positions under two Republican presidents, has died at the age of 100.
The Hoover Institution, a unit of Stanford University, announced his death in a press release on Sunday. The conservative think tank, for which Shultz was a fellow, died on Saturday at his home on the Stanford campus.
An economist, he was in the Marine Corps during World War II. He first served in the Eisenhower administration as part of the council of economic advisers and was later appointed secretary of labor by President Richard Nixon. Nixon appointed him to head up the newly created Office of Management and Budget as its first director and then as secretary of the treasury.
As secretary of state from 1982-1989 under President Ronald Reagan, Shultz encouraged the president to speak with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, precipitating a thaw between the two Cold War protagonists.
“Remembered as one of the most influential secretaries of state in our history, Shultz was a key player, alongside President Ronald Reagan, in changing the direction of history by using the tools of diplomacy to bring the Cold War to an end. He knew the value of one’s word, that ‘trust was the coin of the realm,’ and stuck unwaveringly to a set of principles,” the Hoover Institution said in its press release. “This, combined with a keen intelligence, enabled him to not only imagine things thought impossible but also to bring them to fruition and forever change the course of human events.”
After his retirement, he advised George W. Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign and while in office and advised Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial campaign. He also advocated for the legalization of drug use and a carbon tax. A former Bechtel executive, Shultz was drawn into the controversy of Theranos, sitting on the board of the health startup that claimed to have revolutionized blood testing but whose founders are now facing criminal charges for fraud.
“Our colleague was a great American statesman and a true patriot in every sense of the word. He will be remembered in history as a man who made the world a better place,” said former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is director of the Hoover Institution.
Schultz is survived by his wife, Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, his five children, Margaret Ann Tilsworth, Kathlee Pratt Shultz Jorgensen, Peter Milton Shultz, Barbara Lennox Shultz White, and Alexander George Shultz; 11 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
Allison Elyse Gualtieri contributed to this report.
