Herman Cain, a former Black GOP presidential hopeful, dies of COVID-19.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwes

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

ATLANTA, Georgia — Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain (pictured),  who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in 2012 and a  former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become a hard-core supporter of current President Donald Trump, died Thursday of complications from the coronavirus.

He was 74.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

A post on Cain’s website announcing his death says he died Thursday at an area hospital in Atlanta, Georgia .

He had reportedly been ill since June 29 from the coronavirus after he attended Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 20 and, like the president and several other Trump campaign supporters at the rally, did not wear a mask.

And while it has not been confirmed that he contracted the virus at the Trump campaign rally in June, pundits say it raises questions about the wisdom of the president in putting campaign affiliates like Cain at risk, Cain obviously attending the Tulsa event without a mask per Trump's possible suggestions, and in spite of being up in age and a cancer survivor.

Several staffers were infected with the virus following the Tulsa rally, but none fatal.

Cain was co-chair of Blacks for Trump, a voter outreach initiative that targets the Black community and the Black vote as the  president continues to struggle relative to his reelection bid in a fight against Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the front runner, and a former vice president.

Only momentarily considered a viable candidate in 2012 in which Mitt Romney won the Republican nomination but lost the general election to then president Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president, the long-shot Cain had hoped that his candidacy for president would ultimately make him the first Black GOP president.

But his mediocre campaign was sidelined by claims of sexual harassment of women in and out of the work place, claims he denied that, nonetheless, saw his dismal campaign numbers drop tremendously.

Political pundits said he just did not have what it took to be president, and that he could not rise up under pressure from the media on policy-making matters crucial to his political platform.

He was a Black Republican and he continued to embrace the conservative wing of the Republican Party, even though, from a traditional standpoint, Black voters in general have supported the liberal-minded Democratic agenda.

Cain is survived by his wife  of 52 years,  Gloria Cain, two  grown children, Melanie and Vincent, and four grandchildren.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.