Paul O' Neill, former Bush Treasury secretary, dies at 84

Paul O'Neill, the former Secretary of the Treasury under George W. Bush who was fired after publicly disagreeing with the administration over tax cut policy, died on Saturday at age 84. 

O'Neill, who prior to serving in the Bush administration lead several companies including the RAND Corporation, passed away at his Pittsburgh home due to complications from lung cancer, his son Paul Jr. confirmed on Saturday. O'Neill had been battling the disease for several years and had last year decided to forego any further treatment. 

The former secretary received national attention in late 2002, in the early days of the Bush administration, when he publicly disagreed with Bush officials over the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, fearing the measure would significantly burden U.S. finances and increase the federal deficit.

O'Neill was forced to resign over the dispute, after which he collaborated with journalist Ron Suskind in writing a book about the Bush administration in which O'Neill alleged that administration officials had planned the Iraq War as early as February of 2001. The former secretary famously described Bush during cabinet meetings as like "a blind man in a roomful of deaf people."

After beginning his retirement several years after leaving the administration, O'Neill worked on initiatives to help bring clean drinking water to the African continent. His son on Saturday said that he died "peacefully" with family members present.