The American generally credited with ending the cold war with the Soviet Union has died.

George P. Shultz was the former U-S President Ronald Reagan’s longtime secretary of state.

Shultz spent most of the 1980s trying to improve relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East.  He also held three major Cabinet posts in Republican administrations during a long career of public service.

He died Sunday at his home on the Stanford University campus where he was a distinguished fellow.

George P. Schultz was 100.