Nikki Haley announced on Sunday that her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, has died.
The announcement came as the U.S., as well as Canada and the United Kingdom, celebrated Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June.
“This morning I had to say goodbye to the smartest, sweetest, kindest, most decent man I have ever known,” Haley wrote in an X post, sharing a February 2023 photo from a campaign event in her native South Carolina, where she announced that she was running for president.
“My heart is heavy knowing he is gone,” Haley continued Sunday. “He taught his kids the importance of faith, hard work, and grace. He was an amazing husband of 64 years, a loving grandfather and great grandfather, and the best father to his four children. He was such a blessing to all of us. Happy Father’s Day Dad. We will miss you dearly.”
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Nikki Haley embraces her father Ajit Singh Randhawa during a campaign event to launch her presidential bid, at the Charleston Visitor Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 15, 2023. (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images)
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations did not disclose her father’s age or cause of death in the post.
Haley was the last Republican primary presidential contender to drop out of the 2024 race, eventually bowing out and giving a clear path to former President Trump in March.
In January, Haley briefly left the campaign trail to visit her father in the hospital in South Carolina, Politico reported. Reports at the time said he had an unspecified type of cancer.
Nikki Haley during a news conference in Sderot, Israel, on Monday, May 27, 2024. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Randhawa, who was originally from India’s Punjab region, first moved to Canada to get a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia, then moved to South Carolina in 1969 and taught at Voorhees College, according to Politico.
Nikki Haley meets with a Hamas attack survivor, Tali Biner, during a visit to the ‘Nova’ Festival site on May 27, 2024 in Re’eim, Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)
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Haley, who would go on to become the state’s governor, was born three years later.