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President Obama laments death of former aide

Brandon Lepow, 32, died Monday after a two-year battle with leukemia.

By Fred Lambert
President Barack Obama speaks with longtime aide Brandon Lepow and his wife, Theresa. Lepow died on Oct. 12, 2015, after a two-year battle with leukemia. Photo by Pete Souza/ White House photographer/ Twitter
President Barack Obama speaks with longtime aide Brandon Lepow and his wife, Theresa. Lepow died on Oct. 12, 2015, after a two-year battle with leukemia. Photo by Pete Souza/ White House photographer/ Twitter

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday said members of his administration "have heavy hearts" after a former aide passed away following a two-year battle with leukemia.

"To know Brandon Lepow was to know that he didn't need to get into politics to change the world, after all," Obama said in a statement, "he made his thirty-two years count. And those of us who knew him are better for it."

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The Hill reported Lepow, 32, worked on Obama's 2008 campaign as well as the White House press office.

More than 50 White House colleagues traveled to visit Lepow as he received treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas -- something Obama called "a testament to his dedication to others."

The Hill quoted an emotional White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Tuesday as saying Lepow's "courage in confronting tough challenges, his selflessness and humility in interacting both with those he loved and those he barely knew and his passion for what he believed in makes him a genuine role model."

Obama said Lepow got involved in politics seven years ago because "he believed he could change his country for the better."

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"And in his time on the campaign trail and in the White House, both as a traveling aide and as a spokesman, he was tireless in that effort – hardworking, cheerful, one of the most unfailingly kind and gracious people I've had the honor to know," Obama said. "He was someone that any American could be proud to have working on their behalf."

Lepow's death comes less than a month after Jake Brewer, 34, Obama's senior science and technology adviser, was killed after losing control of his bicycle and riding into oncoming traffic.

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