Nancy Reagan, former US First Lady, dies at 94

Former First Lady Nancy Raegan, the wife of the late former US president Ronald Reagan, died on Sunday at age 94, the Ronald Reagan Library said.

Joanne Drake, a spokesperson for the foundation, said in a statement that the former first lady “died this morning at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 94. The cause of her death was congestive heart failure.”

Reagan will be buried at the presidential library next to her husband, Drake added. She said there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pay respects before the funeral service.

Reagan became one of the most influential first ladies in U.S. history during her Republican husband's presidency from 1981 to 1989,

As first lady, Reagan famously spearheaded the “Just Say No” campaign against drug abuse in the 1980s, speaking at dozens of schools around the country over several years, and urging the United Nations to improve drug education. Although she earned scorn for her decision to expensively renovate the White House during a recession, she came to be revered for her social causes, particularly in the Republican party and among conservatives in general.

Her husband, who affectionately called her "Mommy" while she called him "Ronnie," died in 2004 at the age of 94 after a long struggle with Alzheimer's, the progressive brain disorder that destroys memory.

Born in New York City in 1921 to a car salesman and an actor, Reagan was raised by her aunt and uncle in Maryland after her parents divorced and her mother returned to acting. She took the surname Davis from her mother’s second husband, and pursued acting at Smith College and onto Broadway in the 1940s. By the 1950s she was in Hollywood, where she met her future husband, then an actor himself.

“Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan, and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more,” said Barbara Bush, wife of Reagan’s vice-president and successor, in a statement. “George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family.”