Dick Cheney’s Cause of Death at 84 Shared by His Family After He Survived 5 Heart Attacks and a Heart Transplant

Dick Cheney, the former U.S. vice president, died on Monday, Nov. 3, at the age of 84.

According to his family, the cause of death was “complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.” They shared that his wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters Liz and Mary, and other relatives were by his side when he passed away.

Cheney held numerous key roles in American politics, serving as vice president under former President George W. Bush, as well as White House Chief of Staff, U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Wyoming’s lone member of Congress.

Throughout his life, Cheney faced significant health challenges, including five heart attacks. The first occurred in 1978, followed by a major quadruple-bypass surgery in 1988. After suffering another heart attack in 2010, he underwent a heart transplant in 2012, receiving the organ from an anonymous donor. At the time, his office said the family would “be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift.”

In their statement announcing his death, the Cheney family wrote: “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. 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.”

On Tuesday morning, Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, expressed her condolences on the Today show. “When you hear of a politician who passes, there’s tons of coverage about what they were like as a politician, but as a daughter and granddaughter of a politician, I’m just thinking of his daughters and who they are missing — not necessarily a man who cast votes, but a man who raised them,” she said.

Bush Hager added that she planned to reach out personally, saying, “I am thinking of Mary and Liz this morning, and I know my parents are thinking the very same.”