George P. Shultz, secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, dies at 100

George P. Shultz, the former Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and Treasury Secretary under President Richard Nixon, died Saturday at the age of 100, Stanford's Hoover Institution announced Sunday.

The Hoover Institution, where he was a fellow, recalled Shultz as the "one of the most consequential policymakers of all time."

Economist, scholar, businessman, and diplomat, George Pratt Shultz had enough credentials for several lifetimes. One of the first -- a U.S. marine.

Former ABC7 News anchor Eric Thomas interviewed Shultz in 2016.

"You got to mean what you say and follow through and I got that from the marine corps," Shultz said.

The New York native joined the marines during WWII and saw action in the south pacific.

After the war, he earned a Ph.D from MIT.

"So, I studied the social security system and i studied labor related things and I got involved with people in arbitration and mediation work," Shultz said.

Those studies led to teaching stints at MIT and the University of Chicago. In 1957 Shultz was named a member of President Eisenhower's council of economic advisors. Then it was back to academia at Chicago, followed by Stanford. 13 years later, President Richard Nixon chose Shultz to become secretary of labor -- the first of four cabinet level offices he would hold. Only one other American has ever done that. Schultz says growing up during the depression steered him into public service.

"I can remember as a kid people worrying about money being lost. I was worrying about all the unemployment there was and the loss of production that we needed and it made a big impression on me," he said.

He became secretary of the treasury after clashing with President Nixon in 1974 over wage and price controls, Shultz resigned and came back to the bay area to become president of the engineering company Bechtel group. In 1981, he became chief economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan.

A year later, Shultz accepted his most famous job -- secretary of state - America's top diplomat during tumultuous times. Supporters credit Schultz and the Reagan administration with winning the cold war. On the not-so-successful side - talks with the Soviets failed to produce arms control treaties. And in 1986, the terror bombing of U.S. marines in Beirut, Lebanon.

The administration later withdrew the marine peacekeepers. In 1989, Shultz went back to Bechtel, one of America's most decorated peacetime statesmen. Both sides of the political aisle admired him.

In later years, Shultz was known for his philanthropy; he and wife charlotte, splitting time between homes in the Bay Area.