Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who held influential positions in the United States military and served as a top adviser to three presidents died of complications from an infection. He was 85.

Haig died at about 1:30 a.m. according to his children, Barbara and Alexander at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Born Dec. 2, 1924, in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, Alexander Meigs .With the help of an uncle who had congressional contacts, he secured an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943.