Hosni Mubarak, the autocrat who ruled Egypt for nearly three decades before his stunning collapse from power during the Egyptian Revolution , has died in a Cairo hospital at age 91, Egyptian state TV and the BBC reported Tuesday.

Personal Life & Military Career

Mubarak was born in a village north of Cairo in 1928. He is survived by his wife Suzanne, and two sons, Alaa and Gamal. The eldest of his three grandchildren, Mohammed, died at age 12 in 2009 following a sudden health crisis .

Mubarak attended Egypts Military Academy and Air Force Academy as well as the Soviet Unions elite Frunze General Staff Academy. He began his career as a flight instructor at the Air Force Academy in the early 1950s, and rose through the ranks to become commander in chief of the air force and deputy minister of defense by 1972.

The following year, under Mubaraks direction, the air force supported the Egyptian armys advance across the Suez Canal to attack Israelis occupying the Sinai Peninsula, marking the start of the Yom Kippur War .

Mubarak was promoted to air chief marshal in 1974 for his leadership during the weeks-long war. Decades later, he said the conflict breathed new life into Egypt.