Nancy Reagan, former First Lady, dies at 94

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, wife of President Ronald Reagan, has died at 94, her spokesperson announced on Sunday. The cause was congestive heart failure.

TMZ was the first to report the news. The site said it had learned of Reagan’s death from “a close family member.”

Like Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan was an actor in Hollywood before his move into politics. They married in 1952 and remained together until his death in 2004.

While in the White House, Reagan became famous for her fiercely protective devotion to her husband and his public image; for her “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign; for her interest in astrology, which caused public embarrassment for the administration; and for her battles with several White House staffers, among other things. She also played a role in some of the more controversial aspects of the Reagan presidency, such as its indifference to the AIDS crisis. In her later years, she took up the cause of Alzheimer’s and stem cell research following Ronald Reagan’s death from the disease, defying the Republican Party establishment’s opposition to the research.