Former Defence Minister George Fernandes passed away on January 29, 2019 following a prolonged illness. He was 88. Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer's disease; and recently, he contracted swine flu. Fernandes held the portfolio of the Union Defence Minister from 2001 to 2004 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. He was born in Mangaluru in British India on June 3, 1930.
