According to journalist and MP Mostafa Bakry, Sharaf was being treated for an undisclosed illness for several months at Wadi El-Nil hospital.

Al-Ahram Arabic News website reported that his funeral will be held Tuesday afternoon at Abu Al-Makarem Al-Zaghl Mosque in Cairo.

Born in 1929 in Cairo, Sami Sharaf's father, Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Sharaf, was a surgeon and medical inspector from Beni Suef governorate. 

Sharaf graduated from the Military Academy in Egypt in 1949 where one of his teachers was the then officer Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

Following the 23 July Revolution, Sharaf, who was a military intelligence officer, joined the first generation of officers who founded the General Intelligence Service before joining President Nasser’s office in 1955.

Nasser entrusted Sharaf with establishing and heading the secretarial office for information at the Egyptian Presidency.

In April 1970, Sami Sharaf was appointed as state minister for presidential affairs.

Following the death of President Nasser in September 1970, Sharaf asked President Anwar Sadat to retire. Sadat, however, refused and instructed him to remain in his position.

In May 1971, Sami Sharaf resigned two days before being arrested and charged with planning a coup to overthrow President Sadat. He was sentenced to life but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.

He was, however, released in May 1981.

Since his release, Sharaf focused on documenting the Nasserite era and wrote several books, including  his book Years and Days with Gamal Abdel-Nasser published in 6 volumes.