Hosni Mubarak
A former pilot and air force commander with a combative, stubborn streak, Mubarak assumed the presidency following the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Though he took tentative steps toward democratic reform early in his presidency, Mubarak pulled back towards the dictatorial style that eventually stirred massive protests in Cairo and other cities beginning in January 2011. These Arab Spring demonstrations led to his downfall after nearly three decades in power.
A 2009 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, referred to Mubarak as "a tried and true realist, innately cautious and conservative," and with "little time for idealistic goals." It noted that Mubarak disapproved of the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein of Iraq, which he believed was in need of a "'tough, strong military officer who is fair'" as leader.
"This telling observation, we believe, describes Mubarak's own view of himself as someone who is tough but fair, who ensures the basic needs of his people," the diplomatic cable said. "In Mubarak's mind, it is far better to let a few individuals suffer than risk chaos for society as a whole."
Mohammed Hosni Mubarak was born on May 4, 1928, in the village of Kafr el-Moseilha in the Nile delta province of Menoufia. His family, like Sadat's and Nasser's, was lower middle class.
Following Sadat's assassination, Mubarak was sworn in as Egypt's fourth president, a position of power he retained for three decades.
Early on in his presidency, Mubarak crushed an insurgency by Muslim extremists, whose ranks had produced Sadat's assassins and some future al Qaeda leaders. In the 1990s, he fought hard against another resurgence of Muslim militants whose attacks included the slaughter of dozens of foreign tourists at the temple city of Luxor.
Mubarak also engineered Egypt's return to the Arab fold after nearly a decade in the cold over its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Eli Shaked, who served as Israel's ambassador to Egypt from 2003-2005, described Mubarak as "a strong presence, not charismatic but with a heavy body like a fighter bomber, and very levelheaded."
King Fahd, son of the founder of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was on a four-day official visit to Egypt.
Ben Ali was the first Middle Eastern ruler to fall in the wave of revolutions which became known as the Arab Spring.
Bottom: U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Mubarak speak to reporters during a joint press conference, September 6, 1994, at the World Population Conference in Cairo.
Mubarak said, "It is possible the terrorists came to Ethiopia through Sudan."
In his early days, Mubarak made popular moves that held up promise of a more open society, including freeing 1,500 politicians, journalists and clerics jailed during Sadat's last months in office. But hopes for broader reform dimmed.
Mubarak was re-elected in staged, one-man referendums in which he routinely won more than 90 percent approval. He became more aloof, carefully choreographing his public appearances, and his authoritarian governance - buttressed by harsh emergency laws - fueled resentment.
Mubarak was in the U.S. for discussions on the Middle East Peace process and to urge the Bush administration not to back off from America's role in the peace process.
Gangs of thugs supporting President Hosni Mubarak attacked reporters, foreigners, and human rights workers and the army rounded up foreign journalists.
Saying the 84-year-old former president's rule represented "the blackness of a chilly winter's night," a judge sentenced Mubarak to life in prison, after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.
During the verdict, broadcast live on Egyptian television, the judge said those who had died while protesting for the overthrow of the Mubarak regime "were asking peacefully for freedom and justice against those who lived in corruption."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.