George H?W Bush, the 41st US president most remembered for keeping the US strong through the Cold War and for overcoming Iraq in the Kuwait War, has died at the age of 94. He was the longest living US president.

His son, 43rd US president George W Bush, made a public statement a day after his father’s passing.

“Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear Dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad,” he said of his father.

H W Bush died at around 10pm Friday night at his home in Houston. His passing comes just eight months after his wife, Barbara Bush, passed away. They were married for 73 years.

Tomorrow is the 29th anniversary of the Malta Summit, an important date in diplomatic and military history

On the 2nd of December, 1989, president Bush met with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev at the highly-anticipated Malta Summit.

This meeting, which was referred to as the most important meeting since the meeting between US, UK, and Soviet leaders at the end of World War 2 in 1945, would lead to the end of the Cold War, a war of intelligence and espionage that had spanned decades.

The meeting happened just weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany.

Pictured: Gorbachev and Bush on board the Soviet cruise ship Maksim Gorkiy, anchored in Marsaxlokk

The summit took place aboard the ship Maksim Gorkiy, which was anchored in Marsaxlokk

However, the rough weather and stormy seas led to the conference being called the ‘Seasick Summit’ by international media.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the choice of Malta as location was not easy: “it took a long time to get it arranged, finding a place, a place that would not be ceremonial, a place where you didn’t have to do a lot of other bilaterals. And fortunately – or unfortunately – they chose Malta, which turned out to be a really horrible place to be in December. Although the Maltese were wonderful, the weather was really bad.”

Pictured: Malta Summit monument in Bir?ebbu?a

The Obamas noted the importance of this legacy-making summit in their tribute to the late president

Former US President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama credited Bush with “expanding America’s promise to new immigrants and people with disabilities. Reducing the scourge of nuclear weapons and building a broad international coalition to expel a dictator from Kuwait. And when democratic revolutions bloomed across Eastern Europe, it was his steady, diplomatic hand that made possible an achievement once thought anything but – ending the Cold War without firing a shot.”

Current US President Donald Trump also released a statement on the late president and his predecessor.

“Melania and I join with a grieving nation to mourn the loss of former president George H.W. Bush,”

Former US president Bill Clinton, along with his wife Hillary Clinton, commenting on the hard-working ethic of Bill’s former political rival, whom he defeated in the 1992 US presidential election.

“I saw it up close, working with him on tsunami relief in Asia and here at home after Hurricane Katrina. His remarkable leadership and great heart were always on full display,” he said.

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]