Washington: Henry Kissinger (100), the 56th US Secretary of State has passed away on Wednesday. He is one of the most influential foreign policy figures in American history.

Kissinger Associates said that he died on Wednesday at his home in Connecticut. He was born in Germany in 1923 and he is survived by his wife Nancy Maginnes Kissinger, two children by his first marriage, David and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren.

Kissinger became a naturalized US citizen in 1943 before serving in World War II. He served on the faculty at Harvard University. Kissinger began consulting with the State Department and Pentagon on national security matters before serving as National Security Adviser (January 1969–November 1975) and then Secretary of State (September 1973–January 1977) to former President Richard Nixon.

He received a Nobel Peace Prize for helping arrange the end of American military involvement in the Vietnam War. He ultimately left office in 1977.

In 1945, he was awarded a Bronze Star from the US Army for meritorious service. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the same year a Gallup Poll of Americans listed him as the most admired person in the world. Kissinger was also awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977 and the Medal of Liberty, given one time to 10 foreign-born American leaders, in 1986.