Mr. Bush, born in 1924 in Milton, Mass., is the nation's 41st president and the second to be followed into the White House by a son. (The father-son presidential team of John Adams and John Quincy Adams was first).
The son of a U.S. senator, Mr. Bush has enjoyed a lengthy political career.
After service as a Navy pilot during World War II, Mr. Bush dabbled in the oil business in Texas. He later was a U.S. representative, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. envoy to Beijing and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He lost a 1980 bid for president, but ended up serving two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president.
Promoted to the Oval Office in 1988, Mr. Bush was criticized for being more interested in foreign policy than domestic affairs. He authorized Operation Desert Storm in 1991, forcing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to pull his troops out of neighboring, oil-rich Kuwait.
But late in his presidency, as the economy soured, Mr. Bush broke his famous "Read my lips, no new taxes" pledge, an act that some say contributed to his defeat in 1992 by Bill Clinton.
He campaigned for his son in 2000, but otherwise keeps a low profile - except when jumping out of airplanes. He made headlines with his first parachute jump in March 1997 at age 72. He repeated the feat in June 1999, a few days shy of his 75th birthday. Photo: AP
George Herbert Walker Bush