Former U.S. State Secretary George P. Shultz, who shaped America's foreign policy in the last phase of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, has died aged 100, reports said Monday.
Shultz survived infighting in former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's administration to help build a new era in U.S.-Soviet ties and played a central role in bringing an end to the Cold War. He was Reagan's top diplomat from 1982 to 1989.
Shultz, a Republican, became "one of the ultimate Washington insiders" and served under three presidents - Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Reagan.
He served in three Cabinet positions under Nixon: Treasury secretary, chief of the Office of Management and Budget and Labor secretary.
Shultz was one of two Americans to have held four different Cabinet-level posts throughout a career.
Born in New York, Shultz' parents helped found the New York Institute of Finance in 1922 to train those working on Wall Street. His family relocated to New Jersey when he was 3 years old.
Shultz studied economics at Princeton University and joined the U.S. Marines after graduating in 1942.
Shultz, then a captain, met nursing corps Army lieutenant Helena "Obie" O'Brien during rest and recreation in Hawaii. The two married in 1946 and had five children.
Shultz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989. He had been working as a Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution before his death.
He died at home in California. The cause of his death wasn't disclosed.
