Dick Cheney dead at 84 as tributes paid to former US Vice President

Dick Cheney, the 46th US Vice President, has died, it was announced on Tuesday. Mr Cheney served alongside Republican President George W. Bush for two terms between 2001 and 2009.

A statement released by his family said: "Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old." The giant of Republican politics died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease on Monday night, his family say. Serving under four presidents, the former politician and businessman served as the 17th United States Secretary of Defense between 1989 and 1993 in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

He rose to power by first becoming an aide to the Wisconsin governor, then working for President Richard Nixon's administration in 1969. He served as Gerald Ford's chief of staff from 1975 to 1977.

He has been dubbed the most powerful vice president in American history. In tribute, the family statement added that they are blessed to have "been loved by this noble giant of a man".

It read: "Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country.

"For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming's Congressman, Secretary of Defence, and Vice President of the United States.

"We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have been loved by this noble giant of a man"

Mr Cheney was born on January 30, 1941, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Democrat parents Richard Herbert Cheney, a soil-conservation agent, and Marjorie Lauraine Dickey Cheney, a former softball player.

The political titan grew up in Casper, Wyoming, and it was here that he met his high school sweetheart and future wife, Lynne Vincent.

Cheney was in office as Bush's vice president when the September 11, 2001, attacks unfolded in New York City. Cheney later told CNN's John King that he became a changed man after the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

"At that moment, you knew this was a deliberate act," he told King. "This was a terrorist act."

He is prominently known as a central figure in George W Bush's "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks, and an early advocate of the invasion of Iraq.

In his later years, he became a bitter critic of the Republican Party under the leadership of President Donald Trump and threw his support behind the Democrats' Kamala Harris.

He said there had "never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump", adding: "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him."

Mr Cheney had a history of heart problems, with the first in 1978 when he was running for Congress, and his fifth in 2010. Plagued by coronary problems, he had worn a device to regulate his heartbeat since 2001.

In 2012, three years after retiring, he underwent a successful heart transplant, which he later described as "the gift of life itself".

He is survived by his wife Lynne, who was the second lady of the United States from 2001 until 2009, and his daughters Liz and Mary Cheney.