HOUSTON (AP) — Robert Mosbacher Sr., a Houston oil multimillionaire who served as U.S. Commerce secretary under his close friend, President George H.W. Bush, has died at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He was 82.
Family spokesman Jim McGrath says Mosbacher died after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.
The Texan was a powerful Republican fundraiser who served at the top echelons of Bush’s presidential campaigns and most recently served as a general campaign chairman for 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
As commerce secretary, Mosbacher helped lay the foundation for the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“Together we shared a journey that led to the presidency, the mountaintop of American politics, and there we worked together to help America more fully embrace the world around us and compete in the newly emerging global markets that the waning Cold War made accessible,” Bush said in a statement.
