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Ash Carter, former Secretary of Defense, dies

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, has died.

Carter was 68.

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Carter, who went by Ash, was the final defense secretary for former President Barack Obama, serving from February 2015 to January 2017, CNN reported.

Carter’s family said he died from a “sudden cardiac event” Monday night in Boston.

News of Carter’s death was released by Douglas Elmendorf, dean of Harvard University’s Kennedy School where Carter had served as the director of Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, The Associated Press reported.

Carter was responsible for allowing women to serve in combat, changing the face of the nation’s military.

In December 2015, he ordered the military to allow women to serve in all jobs, including commando posts, the AP reported. The order came after three years of studies and debate over the matter.

In 2016, Carter ended the ban on transgender troops serving in the military, saying it was the right thing to do.

“Americans who want to serve and can meet our standards should be afforded the opportunity to compete to do so,” Carter said in June 2016, according to the AP. “Our mission is to defend this country, and we don’t want barriers unrelated to a person’s qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine who can best accomplish the mission.”

He gave one year for the branches of the military to institute the change.

Carter leaves behind his wife Stephanie and two children, Ava and Will, CNN reported.