Jose Alencar, former Brazil leader, dies

SAO PAULO -- Former Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar died yesterday after a long battle with abdominal cancer. He was 79.

The textile magnate shared eight years of government with Brazil's first working-class president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who left office as new leader Dilma Rousseff was sworn in at the new year.

With Rousseff and Silva on a trip to Portugal, interim President Michel Temer offered his condolences to Alencar's family, calling the former vice president an example of perseverance and hard work for all Brazilians.

Some Brazilians wept at the steps of the hospital where Alencar had been treated over the years in his ongoing battle with cancer.

"He is a man who lives in the heart of all Brazilians," presidential secretary Gilberto Carvalho said at a news conference.

He won the respect of many Brazilians with candid talk about living with cancer and his promotion of preventive practices that lead to early detection.

Like Silva, Alencar was raised poor; he was the 11th of 15 siblings. While Silva joined the labor movement and toiled as a lathe operator, Alencar built an empire of textile factories and amassed a fortune once estimated at about $200 million. -- AP