Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died. He was 100.

Kissinger's consulting firm says he died at his home in Connecticut on Wednesday.

He was born in Germany into a Jewish family. To escape Nazi persecution, his family moved to the United States in 1938 and gained American citizenship.

Kissinger was named National Security Advisor by Richard Nixon in 1968, before becoming Secretary of State in 1973. He served in that position in both the Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.

Kissinger worked to ease tensions with the former Soviet Union.

He also secretly negotiated to realize Nixon's surprise visit to China in 1972, playing a key role in normalizing US relations with Beijing. Chinese state media acknowledged Kissinger's passing, saying "he had a major influence on American foreign policy."

Kissinger shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the Paris Peace Accords which officially ended direct US involvement in Vietnam.

Kissinger was active in diplomacy until very recently. He visited China in July and met with President Xi Jinping in an effort to ease tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio is offering his condolences.

Kishida said, "He has made significant achievements in the region's peace and stability, including the normalization of diplomatic ties between the US and China. I would like to express my sincere respect for the great footsteps he left behind."