Former VP Dick Cheney dies aged 84

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84, his family have confirmed.

The 46th vice president served two terms alongside Republican President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.

"Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old," his family said in a statement.

"His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed. The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.

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

It continued: "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.

Then Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush meet in the President's Emergency Operations Center after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 (David Bohrer/U.S. National Archives via Getty Images)

"And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man."

During the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it was Cheney who initially stepped in to take charge while President Bush was away from Washington.

In his later years, Cheney, who very much remained a staunch conservative, found himself pushed to the sidelines of his own party after repeatedly slamming President Donald Trump, calling him a 'coward' and the biggest threat the US has ever faced, adding that 'he tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him'.

In a twist few could have predicted, the once-dominant Republican figure even ended his political story by backing Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

The former US Vice President Cheney, pictured back in 2022, has died at the age of 84 (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Cheney battled heart problems for much of his adult life, surviving multiple heart attacks before receiving a transplant in 2012. He went on to enjoy more than a decade of retirement, later describing the procedure as 'the gift of life itself'.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1941, Cheney went on to become one of the US' most powerful vice presidents in the modern era as he helped lead the country into the ill-fated Iraq war on faulty assumptions. He is widely considered the chief architect of the controversial 'war on terror'.

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