Republican senator, John McCain, has died at age 81 following a battle with brain cancer.
Known for his heroism in Vietnam, his independent-mindedness and recent criticisms of US President Donald Trump, John McCain has died after suffering from brain cancer. McCain had previously undergone surgery to remove a blood clot from near his left eye and was found to have an aggressive form of brain tumour known as glioblastoma.
A statement from his office said: “Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4.28pm on 25 August 2018. With the senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 60 years.”
The twice-defeated presidential candidate and an “abrasive American hero”, according to CNN, had survived plane crashes, several bouts of skin cancer and brushes with political oblivion. He spent his last few months out of the public eye in his adopted home state of Arizona, reflecting on the meaning of his life and accepting visits from a stream of friends and old political combatants, the news network reports.
Amidst an outpouring of tributes, Barack Obama, who defeated McCain for the presidency in 2008, said he and his rival had shared “a fidelity to … the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed”.
Obama added: “Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt.”
McCain, is survived by his wife, Cindy, and his seven children, including three sons who continued the family tradition of serving in the armed forces.
