Former U.S. President Gerald Ford died at age 93, said his widow on Tuesday.

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age," said Bette Ford in a statement.

"His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country," the statement added.

The statement was released at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford had been hospitalized.

Ford battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Associated Press reported.

He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93.

Ford was the only unelected president in the history of the United States.

In 1973, he was appointed vice president after Spiro Agnew, then vice president who resigned to avoid prosecution on corruption charges.

On Aug. 9, 1974, Ford took office as the 38th U.S. president minutes after Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment over the so-called "Watergate" scandal and then served in the White House for 895 days.

Ford had been a congressman from Michigan for 26 years before he ascended to the top office of the United States.

On Tuesday night, President George W. Bush expressed his condolences over the death of the former U.S. president, calling him a "great American" who helped America recover from Watergate scandal.

"President Ford was a great American who gave many years of dedicated service to our country," Bush said in a statement from his Texas ranch in Crawford.

"With his quiet integrity, commonsense and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the presidency, " said Bush.

"The American people will always admire Gerald Ford's devotion to duty, his personal character and the honorable conduct of his administration," he said.

Source: Xinhua