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Former Governor Tom Ridge, a longtime Erie resident who also served as first Secretary of Homeland Security, was hospitalized with a stroke, his spokesman said, according to a statement.
The testimony of Speaker Steve Aaron reads as follows:
“WASHINGTON, DC – Tom Ridge, the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania and the first Secretary of Homeland Security, was rushed to a Washington, DC area hospital this morning after suffering a stroke at his Bethesda, MD residence had suffered. Gov Ridge, 75, was conscious when he arrived at the emergency room and later underwent a successful blood clot removal procedure and is in critical but stable condition.
“The family requests your prayers for a full recovery. Further updates will be provided if the events warrant this. “
This isn’t Ridge’s first brush with serious health problems.
In November 2017, Ridge was attending the Republican Governors Association conference in Austin, Texas when he called for help in his hotel room.
At the time, Ridge was undergoing a cardiac catheterization at the University of Texas Dell Seton Medical Center.
In a 2018 interview with the Erie Times-News, Ridge said he had a massive heart attack and was in a coma for five days.
“My wife Michele told me she had the priest come to give me final rites,” Ridge said at the time.
Ridge said in 2018 that he lost 15 pounds, made some modest lifestyle changes, and “feels pretty much back where I was”.
“You wake up and you realize you’ve been given a second chance, so you take it,” said Ridge.
Ridge was the country’s first Secretary of Homeland Security and served under President George W. Bush until February 2005. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he left the governorship to join the Bush administration.
He headed the widely dispersed department, which until his departure consisted of 22 agencies and around 180,000 employees.
Since leaving government, Ridge has led Ridge Global, a cybersecurity, international security, and risk management company.
More recently, Ridge was one of a group of 150 Republicans who attended “A Call for American Renewal.” The group threatens to form a new political party if the GOP continues to ally with former President Donald Trump.
Ridge, a U.S. Army veteran in the Vietnam War, served as the Erie County’s assistant district attorney and served as a six-term congressman before being elected governor in 1994.
He and his wife, Michele lived in Erie and Bethesda, Maryland.
Contact Jim Martin at 814-870-1668 or jmartin@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNMartin.
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