Washington ( CNN ) -- Richard Mellon Scaife , the billionaire publisher and banking heir who financed conservative causes that included attempts to discredit Bill Clinton while he was president , has died . He was 82 . Scaife 's death on Friday followed his disclosure less than two months ago that he had terminal cancer , according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , one of his newspapers . He was heir to the banking , oil and aluminum fortunes of the Mellon family and used his estimated $ 1.4 billion wealth to underwrite conservative crusades and groups that included the Heritage Foundation , the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute . Republican leaders mourned him . `` RIP Dick Scaife . Great newspaperman . Set the highest standard . True patriot for first principles we honor today . Prayers for his family , '' House Speaker John Boehner tweeted . During his time supporting presidential campaigns , Scaife first backed Sen. Barry Goldwater , a Republican from Arizona who lost to Lyndon Johnson in a 1964 landslide . Scaife would later spend more than $ 1 million to re-elect Richard Nixon to the White House before becoming a staunch backer of Ronald Reagan nearly a decade later . Scaife did not always toe the line on every front of the conservative movement . He broke with the Republican Party on abortion , legalizing same-sex marriage and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 . But the deeply private Scaife became a more widely known figure in 1998 , when he became the face of what Hillary Clinton , first lady at the time , called the `` vast right-wing conspiracy '' bankrolling investigations into her husband around the time of his impeachment . He denied involvement . Scaife 's regard for the Clintons apparently shifted years later when he reportedly donated $ 100,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative after having lunch with the former President . And in 2008 , Scaife 's newspaper even endorsed Hillary Clinton 's 2008 presidential bid . Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich , who helped lead the 90s-era charge to impeach Clinton , praised Scaife 's patriotism . `` Richard Scaife was a remarkable patriot , philanthropist and conservative activist , '' Gingrich tweeted on Friday . `` His passing today is a great loss to America . '' Scaife purchased the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 1969 and , while he used the paper 's editorial pages as a bullhorn for his political views , the newspaper 's staff attested to the mogul 's love of newspapers . `` He loved newspapering more than anyone I 've known , '' Frank Craig , the newspaper 's editor , said in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 's obituary . `` No one on the staff took more pride in breaking important stories or winning major awards than he did . Many of his ideas and news tips produced some of our best coverage . '' In the column announcing his untreatable cancer , Scaife wrote about his philanthropy and said none of the causes he supported `` gave me as great a sense of accomplishment as the newspapers . '' While he supported a number of causes and institutions , Scaife also reportedly struggled with alcoholism for years and several family issues that pushed him into the headlines , including a contentious divorce with his second wife , which was finalized in 2012 , according to media reports . Before inheriting his family 's fortune , Scaife attended Yale University , but was expelled in his freshmen year when he rolled a beer keg down a flight of stairs and broke a classmate 's legs , according to a 1999 Washington Post article . Scaife is survived by two children and two grandchildren . People we 've lost in 2014 .
Scaife was heir to the banking , oil and aluminum fortunes of the Mellon family . He funded conservative causes with his estimated $ 1.4 billion fortune . Scaife funded investigations into President Bill Clinton around the time of his impeachment . Comment: