Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dies at age 100

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut at the age of 100, Kissinger Associates said in a statement.

Born in Germany in 1923, Kissinger is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children by his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.

Kissinger had been active past his centenary, attending meetings in the White House and publishing a book on leadership styles. 

Kissinger visited China more than 100 times, and he was hailed as an "old friend" to the Chinese people for his significant role in brokering the two countries' rapprochement over five decades ago.

During the 1970s in the midst of the Cold War, he had a hand in many of the epoch-changing global events of the decade while serving as national security adviser and secretary of state under U.S. Republican President Richard Nixon.

Kissinger's reign as the prime architect of U.S. foreign policy waned with Nixon's resignation in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal. Still, he continued to be a diplomatic force as secretary of state under Nixon's successor, President Gerald Ford, and to offer strong opinions throughout the rest of his life.

He was also awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.

Moving to the United States with his family in 1938, anglicizing his name to Henry, Kissinger became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1943, served in the Army in Europe in World War II, and attended Harvard University on a scholarship, earning a master's degree in 1952 and a doctorate in 1954. He was on Harvard's faculty for the next 17 years.

During much of that time, Kissinger served as a consultant to government agencies, including in 1967 when he acted as an intermediary for the State Department in Vietnam.