Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner, husband of current President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, died Wednesday at his home in the southern Argentine town of El Calafate, the presidential doctor Luis Buonuomo confirmed, dpa reported.
Kirchner, 60, suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital in the Patagonian town, some 2,800 kilometres southwest of Buenos Aires, in a serious condition. As he checked into Jose Formenti hospital, he was accompanied by his wife.
Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but could not. He had a "cardiorespiratory arrest with sudden death," doctors at the hospital said.
Kirchner had already had heart surgery twice this year. In February, he suffered from an obstructed carotid artery, while in September he underwent a angioplasty.
He was regarded as one of the major forces in Argentine politics, and was also a likely candidate in the South American country's 2011 presidential election.
Kirchner was the current president of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and was believed to have recently played a major part in efforts to keep Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in the job amid a major police mutiny.
According to media reports, the Argentine government was to hold an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires, amid a national political commotion.
Kirchner was born on February 25, 1950 in the city of Rio Gallegos, in the province of Santa Cruz which also holds El Calafate. From a young age he was active in the Peronist movement.
He studied law in the city of La Plata, near Buenos Aires, where he met Cristina Fernandez, his wife-to-be. The couple had two children.
The couple returned to Santa Cruz in 1976, where they built their political careers. Kirchner was mayor of Rio Gallegos and served three consecutive terms as governor of Santa Cruz, before being elected Argentine president in 2003.
He led the Argentine recovery from the severe economic and institutional crisis of 2001-2002, before handing over power four years later to his wife, who won the election in the first round with Kirchner's achievements as her campaign's main persuasive element.