Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro has died aged 90, state TV announces

Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader who built a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died on Friday, his younger brother announced to the nation. He was 90.

A towering figure of the second half of the 20th Century,

Castro stayed true to his ideology beyond the collapse of Soviet communism, and retained an aura in parts of the world that had struggled against colonial rule and exploitation.

He had been in poor health since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006. He formally ceded power to his younger brother two years later.

Wearing a green military uniform, Cuba's President Raul Castro appeared on state television to announce his brother's death.

"At 10.29 at night, the chief commander of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died," he said, without giving a cause of death.

"Ever onward, to victory," he said, using the slogan of the Cuban revolution.

Tributes poured in from world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who said "revolutionaries of the world must follow his legacy."

The streets were quiet in Havana, but some residents reacted with sadness to the news, while in Miami, where many exiles from the Communist government live, a large crowd waving Cuban flags cheered, danced and banged on pots and pans, a video on social media showed.

"I am very upset. Whatever you want to say, he is public figure that the whole world respected and loved," said Havana student Sariel Valdespino.

Castro's remains will be cremated, according to his wishes. His brother said details of his funeral would be given on Saturday.

The bearded Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution and ruled Cuba for 49 years with a mix of charisma and iron will, creating a one-party state and becoming a central figure in the Cold War.

He was demonized by the United States and its allies but admired by many leftists around the world, especially socialist revolutionaries in Latin America and Africa. After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990, he repeatedly thanked Castro for his firm efforts to weaken apartheid.

In April, in a rare public appearance at the Communist Party conference, Fidel Castro shocked party apparatchiks by referring to his own imminent mortality.

"Soon I will be like all the rest. Our turn come to all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban communists will remain," he said.

Transforming Cuba from a playground for rich Americans into a symbol of resistance to Washington, Castro outlasted nine U.S. presidents in power.

Then Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro smokes a cigar during interviews with the press during a visit of U.S. Senator Charles McGovern, in Havana in this May 1975 file photo. (REUTERS)

He fended off a CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 as well as countless assassination attempts.

His alliance with Moscow helped trigger the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a 13-day showdown with the United States that brought the world the closest it has been to nuclear war.

Wearing green military fatigues and chomping on cigars for many of his years in power, Castro was famous for long, fist-pounding speeches filled with blistering rhetoric, often aimed at the United States.

At home, he swept away capitalism and won support for bringing schools and hospitals to the poor. But he also created legions of enemies and critics, concentrated among the exiles in Miami who fled his rule and saw him as a ruthless tyrant.

Although Raul Castro always glorified his older brother, he has changed Cuba since taking over by introducing market-style economic reforms and agreeing with the United States in December 2014 to re-establish diplomatic ties and end decades of hostility.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (L) and his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro joke after joining their medallions, given by medical graduates, at Havana's Karl Marx theatre, in this August 20, 2005 file photo. (REUTERS)

Six weeks later, Fidel Castro offered only lukewarm support for the deal, raising questions about whether he approved of ending hostilities with his longtime enemy.

He lived to witness the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuba earlier this year, the first trip by a U.S. president to the island since 1928.

Castro did not meet Obama, and days later wrote a scathing column condemning the U.S. president's "honey-coated" words and reminding Cubans of the many U.S. efforts to overthrow and weaken the Communist government.

"With Castro’s passing, some of the heat may go out of the antagonism between Cuba and the United States, and between Cuba and Miami, which would be good for everyone," said William M. LeoGrande, co-author of a book on U.S.-Cuba relations.

However, there was uncertainty whether U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump will continue to normalize relations between the two countries, or revive tensions and fulfill a campaign promise to close the U.S. embassy in Havana once again.

His death - which would once have thrown a question mark over Cuba's future - seems unlikely to trigger a crisis as Raul Castro, 85, is firmly ensconced in power.

In his final years, Fidel Castro no longer held leadership posts. He wrote newspaper commentaries on world affairs and occasionally met with foreign leaders but he lived in semi-seclusion.

Still, the passing of the man known to most Cubans as "El Comandante" - the commander - or simply "Fidel" leaves a huge void in the country he dominated for so long. It also underlines the generational change in Cuba's communist leadership.

People celebrate after the announcement of the death of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, in the Little Havana district of Miami, Florida, U.S. November 26, 2016. (REUTERS)

Raul Castro vows to step down when his term ends in 2018 and the Communist Party has elevated younger leaders to its Politburo, including 56-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel, who is first vice-president and the heir apparent.

Others in their 50s include Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and economic reform czar Marino Murillo.

The reforms have led to more private enterprise and the lifting of some restrictions on personal freedoms but they aim to strengthen Communist Party rule, not weaken it.

"I don’t think Fidel’s passing is the big test. The big test is handing the revolution over to the next generation and that will happen when Raul steps down," Cuba expert Phil Peters of the Lexington Institute in Virginia said before Castro's death.

REVOLUTIONARY ICON

A Jesuit-educated lawyer, Fidel Castro led the revolution that ousted U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan 1, 1959. Aged 32, he quickly took control of Cuba and sought to transform it into an egalitarian society.

His government improved the living conditions of the very poor, achieved health and literacy levels on a par with rich countries and rid Cuba of a powerful Mafia presence.

But he also tolerated little dissent, jailed opponents, seized private businesses and monopolized the media.

Castro's opponents labeled him a dictator and hundreds of thousands fled the island.

"The dictator Fidel Castro has died, the cause of many deaths in Cuba, Latin American and Africa," Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the island's largest dissident group, the Patriotic Union of Cuba, said on Twitter.

Many dissidents settled in Florida, influencing U.S. policy toward Cuba and plotting Castro's demise. Some even trained in the Florida swamps for the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion.

But they could never dislodge him.

Castro claimed he survived or evaded hundreds of assassination attempts, including some conjured up by the CIA.

In 1962, the United States imposed a damaging trade embargo that Castro blamed for most of Cuba's ills, using it to his advantage to rally patriotic fury.

People celebrate after the announcement of the death of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, in the Little Havana district of Miami, Florida, U.S. November 26, 2016. The placard reads, 'I am from Costa Rica and I love you Cuba'. (REUTERS)

Over the years, he expanded his influence by sending Cuban troops into far-away wars, including 350,000 to fight in Africa. They provided critical support to a left-wing government in Angola and contributed to the independence of Namibia in a war that helped end apartheid in South Africa.

He also won friends by sending tens of thousands of Cuban doctors abroad to treat the poor and bringing young people from developing countries to train them as physicians

'HISTORY WILL ABSOLVE ME'

Born on August 13, 1926 in Biran in eastern Cuba, Castro was the son of a Spanish immigrant who became a wealthy landowner.

Angry at social conditions and Batista's dictatorship, Fidel Castro launched his revolution on July 26, 1953, with a failed assault on the Moncada barracks in the eastern city of Santiago.

"History will absolve me," he declared during his trial for the attack.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in 1955 after a pardon that would come back to haunt Batista.

Castro went into exile in Mexico and prepared a small rebel army to fight Batista. It included Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who became his comrade-in-arms.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) visits his then Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro in Havana in this August 13, 2006 file photo. (REUTERS)

In December 1956, Castro and a rag-tag band of 81 followers sailed to Cuba aboard a badly overloaded yacht called "Granma".

Only 12, including him, his brother and Guevara, escaped a government ambush when they landed in eastern Cuba.

Taking refuge in the rugged Sierra Maestra mountains, they built a guerrilla force of several thousand fighters who, along with urban rebel groups, defeated Batista's military in just over two years.

Early in his rule, at the height of the Cold War, Castro allied Cuba to the Soviet Union, which protected the Caribbean island and was its principal benefactor for three decades.

The alliance brought in $4 billion worth of aid annually, including everything from oil to guns, but also provoked the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the United States discovered Soviet missiles on the island.

Convinced that the United States was about to invade Cuba, Castro urged the Soviets to launch a nuclear attack.

Cooler heads prevailed. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. President John F. Kennedy agreed the Soviets would withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. promise never to invade Cuba. The United States also secretly agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey.

'SPECIAL PERIOD'

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, an isolated Cuba fell into a deep economic crisis that lasted for years and was known as the "special period". Food, transport and basics such as soap were scarce and energy shortages led to frequent and long blackouts.

Castro undertook a series of tentative economic reforms to get through the crisis, including opening up to foreign tourism.

The economy improved when Venezuela's late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who looked up to Castro as a hero, came to the rescue with cheap oil. Aid from communist-run China also helped, but an economic downturn in Venezuela since Chavez's death in 2013 have raised fears it will scale back its support for Cuba.

Plagued by chronic economic problems, Cuba's population of 11 million has endured years of hardship, although not the deep poverty, violent crime and government neglect of many other developing countries.

For most Cubans, Fidel Castro has been the ubiquitous figure of their entire life.

Many still love him and share his faith in a communist future, and even some who abandoned their political belief still view him with respect. But others see him as an autocrat and feel he drove the country to ruin.

Cubans earn on average the equivalent of $20 a month and struggle to make ends meet even in an economy where education and health care are free and many basic goods and services are heavily subsidized.

People stand on the seafront boulevard El Malecon in Havana, Cuba, November 26, 2016. (REUTERS)

It was never clear whether Fidel Castro fully backed his brother's reform efforts of recent years. Some analysts believed his mere presence kept Raul from moving further and faster while others saw him as either quietly supportive or increasingly irrelevant.

Son of Nigeria's Ken Saro-Wiwa dies

Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr was a prominent journalist and became a presidential adviser

The son of renowned Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed more than 20 years ago, has died in London.

Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr, 47, passed away after suffering a stroke, his family say.

He was a journalist who became an adviser to three presidents.

The 1995 execution of his father by a military government for leading protests against environmental degradation caused by the oil industry sparked global outrage.

Saro-Wiwa Sr led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), which accused oil multinational Shell of destroying the environment in his home region of Ogoniland in south-eastern Nigeria.

Saro-Wiwa Jr's father was hanged with eight others after a secret trial (TIM LAMBON / GREENPEACE)

His execution after a secret trial under Gen Sani Abacha led to Nigeria being suspended from the Commonwealth.

Noo Saro-Wiwa, sister of the late journalist, told the BBC: "It is with great sadness that we announce that Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr passed away suddenly. His family are devastated and request privacy at this difficult time."

Funeral arrangements are yet to be worked out, the family says.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was first appointed in 2006 as a special adviser on peace and conflict resolution by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He later served Mr Obasanjo's successor, President Umaru Yar'Adua, as an adviser on international affairs and stayed on under President Goodluck Jonathan until he lost last year's election.

His willingness to work with the federal government marked him out as less militant than his father.

But like his father, he was committed to the cause of the Ogoni people.

In a 2015 opinion piece for the UK's Guardian newspaper, he wrote that the effects of the oil pollution on Ogoniland had still not been cleared up.

"If my father were alive today he would be dismayed that Ogoniland still looks like the devastated region that spurred him to action.

"There is little evidence to show that it sits on one of the world's richest deposits of oil and gas."

A 2011 UN report said Nigeria's Ogoniland region could take 30 years to recover fully from the damage caused by years of oil spills. The study said complete restoration could entail the world's "most wide-ranging and long-term oil clean-up".

It added that communities faced a severe health risk, with some families drinking water with high levels of carcinogens.

Shell has accepted liability for two spills and said all oil spills were bad for Nigeria and the company.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej dead at 88

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died after 70 years as head of state, the palace says.

The 88-year-old king was widely revered but had been in poor health in recent years, making few public appearances.

He was seen as a stabilising figure in a country hit by cycles of political turmoil and multiple coups.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will be the new monarch, the prime minister has said.

In a televised address to the nation, Prayut Chan-ocha said Thailand would hold a one-year mourning period and that all entertainment functions must be "toned down" for a month.

Describing the king's death as "the most devastating moment for Thais", the prime minister said: "He is now in heaven and may be looking over Thai citizens from there."

In a later statement he urged vigilance, saying national security was a top priority.

"Everyone will need to be alert in every region and throughout the country to ensure safety", the Reuters agency reported him as saying.

The king's death comes as Thailand remains under military rule following a coup in 2014.

King Bhumibol was widely respected across Thailand, and thought of by many as semi-divine.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered outside the Bangkok hospital where he died, stricken with grief at the news.

Many held pictures of the king and wore yellow or pink clothing in his honour.

"How will Thailand live without you father?" cried one distressed man.

Crowds outside the hospital howled with grief when the announcement was made (AP)

"I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven't done enough for him," said another.

A palace official, speaking to crowds outside the hospital, said the body of the king would be moved to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok on Friday.

Many Thais worship the king with a near-religious fervour (EPA)

"His majesty has passed away at Siriraj Hospital peacefully," the palace statement said earlier, adding he had died at 15:52 (08:52 GMT).

Although the prime minister said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn would become the new monarch, he added that the official proclamation would be made at a later date.

He said the crown prince had confirmed that he would perform his duty as heir to the throne, but had asked for time to mourn his father's death.

Most ordinary Thais know only a few details about Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn (AFP)

The crown prince, who is 64, is much less well known to Thais and has not attained his father's widespread popularity. He spends much of his time overseas, especially in Germany.

Strict lese-majeste laws mean public discussion of the succession are punishable by lengthy jail terms.

Given the pivotal role the king has played in maintaining the balance of power in Thailand's volatile political environment, the succession will be a formidable challenge for the government, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

King Bhumibol, who was born in Cambridge in the US state of Massachusetts, acceded to the throne on 9 June 1946 after his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, died.

The royal family tree

Though a constitutional monarch with limited powers, many Thais looked to King Bhumibol to him to intervene in times of high tension. He was seen as a unifying and calming influence through numerous coups and 20 constitutions.

However, his critics argued he had endorsed military takeovers and at times had failed to speak out against human rights abuses.

Following the death of King Bhumibol, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has become the world longest-reigning monarch, having been on the throne for 64 years.

Tributes have been flowing in from across the world.

US President Barack Obama called the late king a "tireless champion of his country's development".

"I had the honour of calling on his majesty the king during my visit to Thailand in 2012, and recall his grace and warmth, as well as his deep affection and compassion for the Thai people," he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a statement that he hoped Thailand would honour King Bhumibol's legacy of commitment to universal values and respect for human rights.

Shimon Peres burial service: Leaders hail legacy of previous Israeli pioneer

Leaders from around the world paid their respects, including Barack Obama (Reuters)

World leaders have hailed the vision of the late Israeli leader, Shimon Peres, as he was laid to rest days after his demise at 93 years old. 

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu portrayed him as "a great man of the world", as he drove the commendations. 

US President Barack Obama said the presence of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the burial service was an indication of the "unfinished business of peace". 

Mr Abbas was among many foreign dignitaries attending in Jerusalem.

Former US President Bill Clinton helped usher in the Oslo peace accords which won a Nobel Peace Prize for Mr Peres (EPA)

Security was increased ahead of the ceremony, with few people arrested. 

Conveying an emotional address, Mr Netanyahu said that while Israel and the world lamented for Mr Peres there was hope in his legacy. 

The UK's Prince Charles and French President Francois Hollande also bade their farewells (Reuters)

"Shimon lived a life of purpose," he told thousands gathered at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl burial ground. 

"He soared to incredible heights. He swept so many with his vision and his hope. He was a great man of Israel.

"He was a great man of the world."

'One of the giants'

Former US President Bill Clinton, who arranged the Oslo peace concurs amongst Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, said he was Israel's "biggest dreamer".

Taken months after the Oslo Agreement was signed, this photograph shows Shimon Peres, left, with Mahmoud Abbas, centre, and Egypt's then Foreign Minister Amr Moussa (AP)

"He imagined all the things the rest of us could do. He started life as Israel's brightest student, became its best teacher and ended up its biggest dreamer.''

US President Barack Obama closed the commendations, contrasting Mr Peres with "some of the other giants of the 20th Century that I've had the honour to meet, like Nelson Mandela and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth".

Mr Peres, he said, believed in equality for Palestinians.

"Even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointments at the negotiation table, he insisted that as human beings Palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to Jews and must therefore be equal in self determination."

Before the ceremony began, Mr Abbas was seen shaking hands and talking briefly with Mr Netanyahu. The last considerable open meeting between the two leaders was in 2010, with peace efforts totally suspended since April 2014. 

Hamas, the hardline Palestinian group that runs Gaza, condemned Mr Abbas' choice to go to the ceremony. 

Jordan and Egypt - the main two Arab nations to have signed peace deals with Israel - both sent official representatives to the ceremony.

Mr Peres' notoriety in the region is entangled by the 1996 shelling of Qana in southern Lebanon that murdered more than 100 individuals shielding in an UN compound. 

It occurred when, as prime minister, he ordered an offensive against a wave of rocket fire by the militant Hezbollah movement.

He later said it was a "bitter surprise" to find that several hundred people were in the camp at the time.

The funeral was the biggest such event in Israel since the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was killed by a Jewish nationalist in 1995. 

Mr Peres suffered a stroke two weeks prior and died on Wednesday in a hospital near Tel Aviv.

Former Israeli president, Shimon Peres dies aged 93

Shimon Peres, the last of Israel's founding fathers.

Mr Peres endured a stroke two weeks ago. His condition had improved before a sudden weakening on Tuesday. 

His son Chemi drove tributes to "one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel" who "worked resolutely" for it. 

Mr Peres was one of the remainder of an era of Israeli legislators present at the new country's introduction to the world in 1948. 

He won the Nobel Peace prize in 1994 for his part arranging peace concurs with the Palestinians a year earlier. 

He once said the Palestinians were Israel's "closest neighbours" and might become its "closest friends".

Mr Peres passed on in a hospital near Tel Aviv at an early stage on Wednesday, with his family at his bedside. 

He had been in the emergency unit of the Sheba Medical Center after suffering a major stroke on 13 September. 

He "left us without suffering", said Rafi Walden, his son-in-law.

Mr Peres' son, Chemi, said of his dad: "He served our people before we even had a country of our own.

"He worked enthusiastically for Israel from the principal day of the state to the most recent day of his life. 

"My father used to say - and I'm quoting - you are only as great as the cause you serve."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu communicated his "deep personal sorrow over the passing of the nation's beloved former president".

While US President Barack Obama called Mr Peres his "dear companion" in an announcement, and said: "He was guided by a vision of the human dignity and progress that he knew people of goodwill could advance together."

Mr Peres shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his part in negotiating a peace deal with the Palestinians (Getty)

England's Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called Mr Peres "a true giant among men" and "the greatest living example of an unshakable belief in the pursuit of peace against all odds".

He included: "Tragically, thus far, we have not succeeded. But from Shimon Peres we learned that we must never let go of that audacious commitment to peace, even when all around us are ready to do so."

Mr Peres shares his Nobel Peace Prize with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was later killed, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. 

Toward the begin of his long political profession, he was put in charge of personnel and arms purchases for the Haganah, the predecessor of the Israel Defense Forces. 

He secured an arrangement with France to supply the new Israeli country with Mirage jet fighters. He likewise set up Israel's secret nuclear facility. 

He was the defence minister in 1976, when Palestinian hijackers occupied and diverted a plane from Israel to Entebbe in Uganda. He supervised the effective rescue of more than 100 prisoners. 

Brief Biography

• Born in 1923 in Wisniew, Poland, now Vishnyeva, Belarus
• First elected to the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in 1959
• Served in 12 governments, including once as president and twice as prime minister
• Seen as a hawk in his early years, when he negotiated arms deals for the fledgling nation
• A member of the government that approved the building of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory
• But played a key part in reaching the Oslo peace accords, the first deal between Israel and the Palestinians, which said they would "strive to live in peaceful coexistence"

Once a promoter of Jewish settlements in the involved West Bank, Mr Peres later turned into a main political bird. He frequently talked about the requirement for compromise over regional requests in Palestinian territories.

He kept up a dynamic open timetable into old age, generally through his non-governmental Peres Place for Peace, which advances nearer ties amongst Israel and the Palestinians. 

In 2013 he said: "There is no contrasting option to peace. There is no sense to go to war." 

He resigned from his role as president in 2014. 

Mr Peres' funeral is planned for Friday at Mount Herzl, Israel's national graveyard in Jerusalem. 

His coffin will be placed at the Knesset (parliament) on Thursday for the general public to pay their last regards, media reports say.

Tim LaHaye, Co-Author of 'Left Behind' Series, Dies at 90

Dr. Tim LaHaye, pastor and best-selling author of the "Left Behind" book series.

Tim LaHaye, pastor and co-author of the best-selling Left Behind book series, has died at age 90 following a severe stroke.

LaHaye became a notable name in End Times literature when he co-authored alongside Jerry B. Jenkins the 16-book series which sold over 50 million copies.

In announcement posted Monday on LaHaye's official Facebook page, it was reported that the pastor and author died at a San Diego hospital.

Jerry B. Jenkins, co-author of the Left Behind books, said in a statement regarding LaHaye's passing that Tim was a "spiritual giant."

"Thrilled as I am that he is where he has always wanted to be, his departure leaves a void in my soul I don't expect to fill until I see him again," said Jenkins.

"If Tim was missing from the autograph table or the green room of a network television show, he was likely in a corner praying with someone he'd just met — from a reader to a part-time bookstore stock clerk to a TV network anchorman."

Based off of the book of Revelation, the series followed the events of the end of the world as seen through the experiences of people who remained on earth following the Rapture.

The first of the LaHaye and Jenkins series was released in 1995 and by 2002 the series had sold approximately 50 million copies.

"English teacher Donna Camby, of Pacolet, South Carolina, made the historic purchase of the 50 millionth copy at Christian Supply in Spartanburg during a packed booksigning of more than 700 Left Behind fans," noted leftbehind.com.

"The Left Behind series from Tyndale House Publishers is the fastest-selling adult series and the all-time best-selling Christian novels."

The success of the Left Behind books led to multiple movie adaptions, including a 2014 version starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Vic Armstrong.

The Left Behind series was not without its critics, as some Christian leaders and churches took exception with the moral and spiritual message of the fiction works.

On Sunday, July 24, the group Prophecy Watchers posted a message on Facebook explaining that LaHaye had experienced a severe stroke.

"We received some … very sad news this morning. Tim LaHaye has had a very bad stroke and may not recover,"read the Facebook post. "Tim has been a friend and supporter of our ministry from our launch day almost two years ago."

Within 24 hours, the Facebook post about LaHaye received over 400 likes, more than 560 shares, and hundreds of comments, with many offering prayers.

Though most known for the Left Behind series, LaHaye also wrote many volumes of nonfiction works, as noted by his official website.

"LaHaye has written more than 60 non-fiction books on a wide range of subjects such as: family life, temperaments, sexual adjustment, Bible prophecy, the will of God, Jesus Christ, and secular humanism with over 14 million in print, some of which have been translated into 32 foreign languages," according to his website.

"His writings are best noted for their easy-to-understand and scripturally based application of biblical principles that assist in facing and handling the challenges of life."

LaHaye is survived by his wife Beverly of nearly 70 years, four children, nine grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren.