Former Vice President Dick Cheney.

By Joe Lombardi From Daily Voice

Dick Cheney, the forceful vice president who reshaped the office into a center of power and drove the post‑September 11 war on terror, has died at 84, his family announced.

His family announced his death Tuesday, Nov. 4, citing complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. “His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed,” the family said, adding that he died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. 

He served as the 46th vice president from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush and as secretary of defense from 1989 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush. 

He earlier was White House chief of staff to President Gerald Ford and a six‑term Wyoming congressman, rising to Republican whip.

As defense secretary, he oversaw the US invasion of Panama and the Gulf War. Between Bush administrations, he led Halliburton as chairman and CEO. 

As vice president, he helped shape energy policy and Middle East strategy, championed the “war on terror,” and pressed claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction — assertions used to justify the Iraq invasion but never borne out by inspectors. Halliburton later won large reconstruction contracts, fueling allegations of favoritism and secrecy that shadowed his tenure.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and raised in Casper, Wyoming, Cheney studied at Yale before dropping out, and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wyoming. 

He had longstanding heart disease, including a 1988 quadruple‑bypass, before returning to national office on George W. Bush’s ticket in 2000.

“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” his family added. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”