Former Egyptian Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi passed away today, Tuesday, September 21, at the age of 85. Egyptian television reported the breaking news, stating, "Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Minister of Defense and Military Production, and former commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has left us this morning at the age of 85," without providing further details.
Field Marshal Tantawi graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1956 and then from the Command and Staff College. He participated in the 1967 War, the War of Attrition, and the October 1973 War, where he led a combat unit in the infantry and later received the Military Honor Medal. In 1975, he served as Egypt's military attaché in Pakistan and then in Afghanistan, gradually rising through the ranks until he became Minister of Defense and Commander of the Armed Forces in 1991, attaining the rank of field marshal in 1993.
He assumed leadership of Egypt as the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces following the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011, and remained in this position until Mohamed Morsi took the oath of office on July 1, 2012. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was retired by a presidential decree from former President Morsi on August 12, 2012, was awarded the Nile Collar, and appointed as an advisor to the President.
