Herman Cain dies after COVID-19 battle

Cain briefly rose to the top of polls during the 2012 race for the Republican presidential nomination by highlighting a plan to simplify the tax code with what he called the 9-9-9 plan.

Newsmax reported that Cain died at an Atlanta hospital and had been critically ill for several weeks.

It's not clear when or where Cain was infected, but he was hospitalized less than two weeks after attending U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign rally on June 20 in Tulsa, Okla. Cain, not seen wearing a mask in available pictures of the event, did not meet with Trump there. "He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance". Advertisement " Herman Cain - our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us - has passed away", wrote Dan Calabrese, an editor for the website.

The day before he was hospitalized, Cain sent a tweet expressing support for the Trump campaign's decision not to require masks at a July 4 Independence Day celebration held at Mount Rushmore. "I'll never forget his smiling face", Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, said on Twitter. There were also gaffes on abortion and torture that led Cain's critics to question whether he was ready for the White House.

Cain was a former business executive and the board chairman of a branch of Kansas City's Federal Reserve Bank.

One of his first brushes with national fame came in 1994, when he challenged President Bill Clinton on his health care legislation during a televised town-hall-style meeting.

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"People who oppose Obama are said to be racists - so I guess I'm a racist", Cain once said.

"If 10% is good enough for God, 9% ought to be good enough for the federal government", Cain said, refering to the tithe sometimes paid as a contribution to a religious organization. Mr. Cain went to Morehouse College and earned a master's degree at Purdue University before becoming a vice president at Pillsbury.

He continued to appear at political conferences and in the conservative news media long after his campaign ended.

Mr Cain, 74, was hospitalised after being diagnosed with the disease earlier this month.

Cain is survived by his wife, Gloria Etchison, their children and grandchildren.