R.I.P.: Herman Cain, Former Presidential Candidate, WSB Radio Host

Former presidential candidate and WSB radio host Herman Cain has died after a battle with COVID-19, officials said Thursday.

The Georgia-born politician and businessman had been hospitalized in metro Atlanta battling the coronavirus for over a month and was on oxygen.

He was 74, reports WSB-TV2 Atlanta.

"We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight," a spokesperson said on his website. "He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. We all prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal, but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a battle.".

Officials said they were not sure how Cain contracted the virus. He attended President Trump’s rally in Tulsa June 20 as a campaign surrogate.

Cain’s staff announced June 27 that he had tested positive for the virus.

Cain was the host of The Herman Cain Show at HermanCain.com and Herman Cain’s American on NewsmaxTV.

Cain left his show on WSB’s News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB in 2018 but continued to appear on the stations doing daily commentary.

Cain started his career as a civilian employee of the Navy and went on to climb the corporate ladder. During the 1980s, Cain was a successful business executive at Burger King, which prompted Pillsbury to appoint him as chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, a role he held from 1986 to 1996.

Cain went on to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch from 1989 to 1991 before entering politics.

He served as a senior economic adviser to Bob Dole’s presidential campaign, ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 and was a contender for the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 election.