Edward Nixon, the youngest brother of former President Richard Nixon who staunchly defended his older sibling's White House legacy, has died. He was 88.

The Richard Nixon Foundation announced that Edward Nixon died Wednesday at a nursing facility in Bothell, Washington, a Seattle suburb.

A geologist and Navy Veteran, Edward Nixon worked on his brother's 1968 and 1972 White House campaigns and served as co-chairman of the Nixon re-election committee in 1972.

Richard Nixon's daughters, Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, called their uncle "our family's rock" since the former president died in 1994.

Edward Nixon was the fifth and youngest son of Frank and Hannah Nixon and had been the last surviving brother of the former president.

Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace during the Watergate scandal.