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Pierre Du Pont, left, and Irenee Du Pont, right, confer with niece Lynn Williams outside a courtroom in Chicago on Feb. 17, 1953. (AP Photo)
Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, a former Delaware governor and congressman who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 86.
Du Pont, a scion of the family that established the DuPont Co., died at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday after a long illness, his former chief of staff, Bob Perkins, said.
Born to wealth and status, du Pont broke with family tradition in the 1960s, forgoing a comfortable career with his family’s chemical company for a life in politics.