Flags were flown at half-mast last week after Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died at the age of 93. The nation’s longest living former president suffered a variety of medical problems in 2006.

Funeral ceremonies began on Dec. 29 and were scheduled to last five days before he was laid to rest near his Grand Rapids, Mich., presidential museum.

Ford took over the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned amid controversy over the Watergate scandal. Ford later granted Nixon a pardon for the crimes he committed as president, but then lost his own election bid in 1976.

A Michigan Republican, Ford was elected to Congress 13 times before being appointed as vice president when Spiro Agnew resigned amid a bribery scandal. He was the only president to take office without being elected to the vice presidency or the presidency.

During his approximately 2½ years as president, Ford saw the Vietnam War end in defeat for the U.S. when Saigon fell in 1975. He lost the presidency to Democrat Jimmy Carter the following year.

President Bill Clinton presented Ford with the Medal of Freedom in 1999 for his work guiding the nation through Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War. Ford served as honorary co-chair of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform with Carter in 2001.

At the time of his death, Ford lived in Rancho Mirage, Calif., where he served on the board of directors of several corporations and supported charities such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Betty Ford Center for addiction recovery.