It was so sad and shocking to learn of the sudden death today of this great man. Interestingly, he had only flown back to Washington last night from Rome and went back to work this morning.
In all deep respect, I wonder if he had suffered from deep vein thrombosis? He died from a massive heart attack in case you haven't heard.
And please do not refer to people who have died as having "passed"....when I hear this terrible expression, I always want to say "passed what". The traditional expression to use is "passed away" or "died".