WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Former US vice president Dick Cheney has died aged 84, US media reported on Tuesday, citing a statement from his family.

Cheney was the 46th vice president, serving under Republican president George W Bush for two terms between 2001 and 2009.

The former congressman and defense secretary “died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease,” according to the family’s statement cited by US media.

“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,” it added.

Cheney is considered to have been one of the most powerful vice presidents in US history, a Machiavellian figure who wielded considerable influence behind the scenes.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on January 30, 1941, Cheney grew up mostly in the sparsely populated western state of Wyoming.

He attended Yale University but dropped out of the prestigious East Coast school and ended up earning a degree in political science back home at the University of Wyoming.

A Republican stalwart, Cheney went into politics himself in 1978, winning Wyoming’s seat in the House of Representatives and holding on to it for the next decade.

Named defense secretary by president George H W Bush in 1989, Cheney presided over the Pentagon during the 1990-91 Gulf War, in which a US-led coalition evicted Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

As vice president, Cheney brought his neo-conservative ideology to the White House and played a greater role in making major policy decisions than most of his predecessors in the role.

Cheney is widely seen as one of the driving forces behind the decision to invade Iraq following the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda on New York and Washington.

His inaccurate claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction fueled the drumbeat for war ahead of the 2003 US invasion.