LOS ANGELES, Calif., March 6, 2016 (Gephardt Daily & UPI) — Former first lady Nancy Reagan has died at age 94.
Family members confirmed her death Sunday morning saying she passed away from congestive heart failure at her home in Bel Air.
Son, Michael Reagan, posted the following statement on Twitter: “I am saddened by the passing of my step mother Nancy Reagan … She is once again with the man she loved. God Bless.”
Known as one of the most hands-on First Ladies the United States has ever had, Reagan controlled the schedule of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, and was known for influencing White House staff appointments and firings, the New York Daily News reports.
She was also well-known for consulting an astrologer for divine intervention.
“For eight years, I was sleeping with the president, and if that doesn’t give you special access, I don’t know what does!” she once said.
Reagan was nearly always by the side of her late husband “Ronnie” as he transformed from Hollywood movie actor to California governor, then two-term President of the United States.
“My life really began when I married my husband,” she once said.
Her representative, Joanne Drake, said Reagan died of congestive heart failure.
“Mrs. Reagan will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, next to her husband, Ronald Wilson Reagan, who died on June 5, 2004,” Drake wrote in a statement.
Nancy Robbins was born July 6, 1921 at Sloane Hospital in Flushing, Queens. Her mother, Edith was a socialite and actress and her father, Kenneth Robbins, was a used car salesman.
Her parents divorced when she was 6 and her mother, busy pursuing her acting career in New York City, sent her to live with an aunt and uncle, Virginia and Audley Galbraith, in Bethesda, Maryland.
When Edith Robbins married neurosurgeon Loyal Davis, he legally adopted Nancy, making her the only First Lady ever to be legally adopted.
“Prior to the funeral service, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to pay their respects at the Library,” Drake said in her statement.
