Death and state funeral of Gerald Ford

On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States and the 40th vice president, died at his home at 40471 Sand Dune Rd., in Rancho Mirage, California, at 6:45 p.m. local time (02:45, December 27, UTC). At 8:49 p.m. local time, his wife of 58 years, Betty Ford, issued a statement announcing his death. The causes of death listed on the death certificate were arterioscleroticcerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis.

At the age of 93 years and 165 days, Ford was the longest-lived U.S. president in history at the time of his death, a record which has since been surpassed by George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Ford was the second former U.S. president to die during the presidency of George W. Bush and the second to die in the twenty-first century, the first being Ronald Reagan.