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Celebrity Deaths in 2016
Nancy Reagan
July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016, 94 years old
Nancy Reagan was the former First Lady, the wife of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. On March 6, 2016, Reagan died at the age of 94, of congestive heart failure.
White House Photographic Office - National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 198507, Public Domain
Nancy Reagan was a Hollywood actress in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild and later won the 1980 presidential election. She was criticized early in his first term, largely due to her decision to replace the White House china, despite it being paid for by private donations. The First Lady launched the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign in 1982, which was her primary project and major initiative as first lady. After President Reagan revealed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, Nancy Reagan made herself his primary caregiver, and became actively involved with the National Alzheimer's Association and its affiliate, the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute in Chicago, Illinois. Nancy Reagan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President George W. Bush on July 9, 2002.
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