US: Ex-national security advisor Brzezinski dies age 89

NEW YORK

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor to 39th U.S. President Jimmy Carter, died on Friday at a hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. He was 89.

His death was announced by his daughter, television host Mika Brzezinski.

“My father passed away peacefully tonight,” she wrote on an Instagram photo of her daughters Carlie and Emilie with their grandfather.

“He was known to his friends as Zbig, to his grandchildren as Chief and to his wife as the enduring love of her life. I just knew his as the most inspiring, loving and devoted father any girl could ever have. I love you Dad,” she added.

Brzezinski's time in office between 1977 and 1981 under President Carter saw a U.S. thaw with China and the severing of ties with Taiwan, and the brokering of Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.

The Carter administration also witnessed the transition of Iran into an Islamic republic and the 1979 hostage crisis, as well as the U.S. arming of mujahideen in Afghanistan before the country's occupation by the Soviet Union.

Brzezinski is survived by his wife of 62 years, Czech-American sculptor Emilie Benes, as well their three children and five grandchildren.