Former Nixon aide Charles Colson dies

The former member of President Nixon's administration, prominent evangelical author and founder of the Prison Fellowship, Charles Colson has died.

Charles Colson

The Watergate figure died at the age of 80

The 80 year old underwent an operation to remove a blood clot on his brain three weeks ago and remained in a Northern Virginia hospital until his death on Saturday evening.

Tributes have since poured in on Twitter with Lee Strobel describing the man as a "brilliant, passionate, persuasive, humble servant" and Russell Moore saying "I have to believe Mr. Colson just heard a Galilean voice say, 'I was in prison and you visited me.'"

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said: "Chuck Colson embodied and made possible an immeasurable amount of good in the lives of the people, families and communities he served in bringing a message of faith and hope."

Charles "Chuck" Colson was well known for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal. Once described as the "evil genius" behind President Nixon's administration, Chuck's conversion to Christianity and subsequent experience in prison led him to set up the Prison Foundation in 1976 which remains the United States biggest Christian outreach to prisoners.

"I shudder to think of what I'd been if I had not gone to prison," Colson said in 1993. "Lying on the rotten floor of a cell, you know it's not prosperity or pleasure that's important, but the maturing of the soul."

The author of over 30 books, many written after his 1974 conversion, Colson was partcuarly praised for his testimony, Born Again and 1999's How Now Shall We Live?. He also hosted a radio show, Breakpoint, which attracted an estimated 2 million listeners every day.