Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died on Tuesday at the age of 88, The Associated Press reported.
In a statement Wednesday, Rumsfeld's family said he "was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico."
President George W. Bush, under whom Rumsfeld served as Pentagon chief, hailed his "steady service as a wartime secretary of defense -- a duty he carried out with strength, skill, and honor."
Rumsfeld is the only person to serve twice as Pentagon chief. The first time, in 1975-77, he was the youngest ever. The next time, in 2001-06, he was the oldest.
He was nine months into his second tour as Defense Secretary when the September 11, 2001, attacks took place at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Rumsfeld oversaw the US invasion of Afghanistan and toppling of the Taliban regime.
Rumsfeld twice offered his resignation to Bush in 2004 amid disclosures that US troops had abused detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, but it was not until November 2006, after Democrats gained control of Congress, that Bush replaced him.
Rumsfeld is survived by his wife, Joyce, three children and seven grandchildren.