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Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Dies at 94

<p>Former first lady Nancy Reagan has died at the age of 94.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://ml.reaganfoundation.org/PDF/FirstStatementtobeDistributed.doc.pdf" target="_blank">A statement from the Office of Nancy Reagan</a>&nbsp;confirmed her death and said she will be buried next to her late husband, President Ronald Reagan.</p><p>Ronald and Nancy Reagan had whats often described as a lifelong love affair.&nbsp;</p><p>As she once said, &quot;My life really began when I married my husband.&quot;</p><p>Like her husband, she too had a career in acting but gave it up when her husbands career in politics began.&nbsp;</p><p>During her eight years as first lady, she had a major influence on her husband.&nbsp;</p><p>In 1983, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPOqzNsru68 " target="_blank">reporter asked President Reagan</a>, &quot;Youre not getting too old to run again are you?&quot;</p><p>Nancy Reagan joked, &quot;How would you like a piece of cake, Sam?&quot;</p><p>Her major initiative was drug education and prevention.</p><p>&quot;When it comes to drugs and alcohol, just say no,&quot;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQXgVM30mIY " target="_blank">Nancy Reagan said</a>.</p><p>Her causes included the Foster Grandparents Program, renovating the White House and a hosting a yearly televised concert series at the White House for young performers a tradition that continues to this day.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Shes said to have rarely left her husband&#39;s side during his final years at their ranch in Santa Barbara, California. Ronald Reagan died in 2004 after a long battle with Alzheimer&#39;s.&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;I miss him now more than I ever did,&quot; Reagan said on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrthyJbNup0 " target="_blank">CNN</a>&nbsp;in 2007.</p><p>Every year she put a wreath&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhAPpOy51yw " target="_blank">at his gravesite</a>. Nancy Reagan is survived by her children, Patti Davis and Ron Reagan, and her stepson, Michael Reagan.&nbsp;</p><p><i>This video includes images from the&nbsp;</i><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Reagan#mediaviewer/File:Ronald_Reagan_and_Nancy_Reagan_aboard_a_boat_in_California_1964.jpg " target="_blank">Ronald Reagan Presidential Library</a></i><i>&nbsp;and Getty Images.&nbsp;</i></p>
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Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of the late President Ronald Reagan, died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94.

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The former first lady will perhaps be best remembered for her loyalty to her husband. She became fiercely protective of him after a 1981 assassination attempt, and later stood by him as Alzheimer's disease overtook him in his last years.

In a 1998 Vanity Fair article, she vocalized this loyalty: "When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did," she said.

During her White House years, she sponsored a major drug prevention crusade aimed at children and young adults. She toured the U.S. and other nations as part of her "Just Say No" campaign, traveling almost 250,000 miles.

As the first lady from 1981 to 1989, Reagan endured criticism for bringing high fashion and a lavish lifestyle to the White House in a time of recession.

Some critics called her "Queen Nancy." After her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, Reagan became an outspoken advocate for Alzheimer's research and formed the Ronald & Nancy Reagan Research Institute in Chicago the following year.

Reagan, who died of congestive heart failure, will be buried next to her late husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

 

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