Retired Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in 1991, has died. He was 78.

Schwarzkopf died Thursday from complications from pneumonia in Tampa, Florida, where he lived in retirement.

A much-decorated combat soldier in Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was known popularly as “Stormin' Norman'' because of his notoriously explosive temper. In 1991, he led Operation Desert Storm, which liberated Kuwait from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's forces.

Schwarzkopf lived in Tampa, where he served in his last military assignment as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command. That is the headquarters responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20 countries from the eastern Mediterranean and Africa to Pakistan.

Schwarzkopf retired from active service in late 1991. In the aftermath of the Gulf War, there was some speculation that he might run for political office, but he never did.

The White House said of Schwarzkopf's passing that the general's “legacy will endure in a nation that is more secure because of his patriotic service.”