Herman Cain, former presidential candidate, dead at 74

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has died at the age of 74 after he was hospitalized with the coronavirus, his family confirmed Thursday.

“You’re never ready for the kind of news we are grappling with this morning. But we have no choice but to seek and find God’s strength and comfort to deal with it,” Cain’s family wrote in a statement published on his website.

“Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away. He’s entering the presence of the Savior he’s served as an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church in Atlanta for, and preparing for his reward,” the continued.

The conservative businessman became ill after he contracted the coronavirus earlier this month and was admitted to hospital on July 1.

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, tested positive for COVID-19 after he attended President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20 where he was photographed in the stands without a mask.

In a lengthy tribute on Twitter, Trump paid tribute to Cain as a “very special man” and an “American patriot” and shared a photo of the two shaking hands.

“My friend Herman Cain, a powerful voice of freedom and all that is good, passed away this morning. Herman had an incredible career and was adored by everyone that ever met him, especially me,” he wrote.

“He was a very special man, an American patriot, and great friend. I just got off the phone with his amazing wife Gloria, daughter, Melanie, and son Vincent to express my deepest condolences to the entire family. @FLOTUS Melania and I loved Herman Cain, a great man. Herman, rest in peace!”

Cain spent nearly a month on a ventilator in an Atlanta hospital. In an update earlier this week, his family described a “long and slow process” to recovery.

In 2006, Cain was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given a 30 percent chance of survival after it spread to his liver but was declared cancer free the following year.

Cain announced his presidential bid in 2011 where he ran on a platform of tax reform but was forced to suspend his campaign amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.

The Tennessee-born business executive was a close friend of Trump and in April 2019, the president announced he was considering nominating him to the Federal Reserve Board.

But Cain, the former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said he asked Trump to withdraw his name, claiming “enemies” were already digging up negative stories about him from his failed 2011 White House run.

“I’m not going to let the accusers run my life or determine my career,” he said in a Facebook video.

Cain joined conservative network Newsmax TV in April, where he hosted the weekend show “Herman Cain’s America.”