MAUREEN REAGAN, DAUGHTER OF PRESIDENT REAGAN, DIES

Maureen Reagan, Daughter of President Reagan, Dies

Back to Maureen Reagan's Page

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, August 8, 2001

WASHINGTON – Maureen Reagan, daughter of former president Ronald Reagan and actress Jane Wyman, is dead. She was 60 and had skin cancer.

Reagan died at home in the Sacramento area.

Reagan had a distinguished, multilayered career as political analyst, best-selling author and talk show host, in various political leadership roles and as spokeswoman for a number of issues, especially her campaign for more research and support for Alzheimer's disease, which her father has.

But by the middle of 2001, she was waging an even more personal war; she was fighting brain cancer.

Maureen was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, on Dec. 12, 1996, when a large mole-like growth appeared on the back of her mid-right thigh. The cancer spread in the ensuing years and late in 2000 she was admitted to the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif., where she underwent a highly aggressive biochemotherapy treatment for three months to combat a golfball-sized malignant tumor in her right pubic bone.

She appeared to be winning as she returned to her home near Sacramento, Calif., but suffered mild seizures on the Fourth of July, 2001. Her husband, Dennis Revell, said an MRI confirmed two brain tumors.

Maureen Reagan was born Jan. 4, 1941, in Los Angeles, the future president's first child. She recalled later being shipped off to boarding school when she was 7 because her mother, Jane Wyman, was a very busy actress. She said, however, that she remained close to her mother, a closeness she also felt with her stepmother, Nancy Reagan.

Maureen and Dennis Revell were married in 1981. They had one child, Rita, whom they adopted in Uganda in 1994 when she was 8 years old. They had met her five years earlier at an orphanage while on a trip for President Reagan.

Maureen had a rewarding public service career and politics seemed to be second nature. Her ability to articulate issues dear to her led to becoming a much sought-after lecturer, speaker and commentator. She became well known as a political analyst and talk show host on radio and television. She showed her passion for politics in her book "First Father, First Daughter, A Memoir," in which she recorded an insightful perspective on political issues as well as never-before-published anecdotes about her father.

During her three decades of political activity, she twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress and held numerous leadership positions, including a two-year term as co-chair of the Republican National Committee. During that time she set up an office of women's campaign activities, built a national volunteer network and created a political action committee to support women candidates.

She chaired the 36-member U.S. delegation to the 1985 World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women in Nairobi, Kenya, which produced the first consensus document that charted a practical course for the future advancement of women worldwide. She also took part in sessions in Geneva, Vienna and New York. She was able to build on the Nairobi success when appointed as U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

She was appointed to the Alzheimer's Association's national board in 1999 and given the association's Distinguished Service Award in 2000.

Alzheimer's, she told a Senate committee in March of 2000, "is a thief that sneaks into the brain and robs its victims of so much of what is precious about life – our memories and out experiences, ultimately life itself." It follows its own path of destruction, she told the senators, "and it doesn't make special arrangements for presidents."

Reagan is survived by Revell; their 16-year-old daughter, Rita; her father, former President Reagan and his wife, former first lady Nancy Reagan; her mother, Jane Wyman; her brothers, Michael and Ron Reagan; her sister, Patti Davis; and her aunt, Mrs. Neil (Bess) Reagan.

A public memorial service and mass is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Aug. 18, 2001, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church at 1112 26th St. in Sacramento. This is to be followed by a private graveside service early in the afternoon.