Nestor Kirchner, Former Argentine President and First Gentleman, Dies Suddenly

(Oct. 27) -- Nestor Kirchner, president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007 and husband of the current president, died this morning after suffering a heart attack in the southern town of El Calafate. He was 60.

Kirchner had undergone an angioplasty in September to clear a blockage near his heart. He also had surgery in February on his right carotid artery -- the artery that delivers blood to the brain -- to clear a blockage there, CNN reports. His wife was with him when he died, according to the BBC.

The couple was in the small Patagonian town of El Calafate, where they have a home, for a weekend getaway that was extended when President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner became ill with the flu and was ordered to rest, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

Kirchner was considered to be one of Argentina's most powerful politicians. After deciding not to seek re-election in 2007, he passed the presidential mantle on to his wife. But he maintained much influence over the government behind the scenes, making many important decisions for his wife's administration.

Kirchner was also expected to run for president again in next year's elections, eliciting criticism from some camps who claimed the couple, sometimes called "the Clintons of the South," had found a way around term limits by passing the presidency between themselves. The former president began his political career as governor of Patagonian Santa Cruz province. A member of the Peronist party, he was elected president in the wake of the 1999 to 2002 economic crisis, during which the country defaulted on nearly $100 billion.

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