Ashton Carter, Obama Defense Secretary, Dies of Heart Attack at 68

Ashton Carter, Obama Defense Secretary, Dies of Heart Attack at 68
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter speaks at a press briefing in the Pentagon Briefing Room in Arlington, Va., on May 1, 2015. Olivier Douliery/Getty Images
Bill Pan
Bill Pan
Reporter
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Ashton “Ash” Carter, who served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense towards the end of the Obama administration, has died Monday evening after suffering a “sudden cardiac event.”

“It is with deep and profound sadness that the family of former Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter shares that Secretary Carter passed away Monday evening in Boston after a sudden cardiac event at the age of 68,” Carter’s family said in a statement Tuesday.