LOS ANGELES, CA -Nancy Reagan, the former actress and first lady whose love story with Ronald Reagan played out on the very public stage lent by his presidency, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at her home in Bel Air. She was 94.
Serving as first lady from 1981 to 1989, Mrs. Reagan became a political force like few women in her position, shuffling top advisors out of the White House when she felt her husband was in trouble and into the Oval Office when she sensed he needed help.
Mrs. Reagan was stylish, and gazed at her husband with unabashed pride in public appearances over the course of their marriage. She had a steely core, though, and seemed to be perpetually fighting for Ronald Reagan's legacy, both when he was in office and, particularly fiercely, after he left office and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
She went after anybody she thought as an enemy to her husband, and while criticism of him seemed to roll off without staining, she absorbed sometimes fierce public ridicule.

Mrs. Reagan will be buried at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, next to her husband and 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan.
Anne Frances "Nancy" Robbins was born on July 6, 1921 in New York City to a car salesman, Kenneth Robbins and an actress, Edith Luckett Robbins. Her stepfather Loyal Davis was a prominent neurosurgeon who moved the family to Chicago. Davis formally adopted her when she was 14 years old, and she legally changed her name to Nancy Davis.Mrs. She attended Girls' Latin School of Chicago before going on to graduate from Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Originally a Broadway actress who played a number of minor roles in the movies, she gave up her acting career when she married the future president.
"My life really began when I married my husband," she once said.
She met Ronald Reagan in 1949, when he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild Association. Before his political career, Reagan, too, was an actor with a penchant for politics, and he worked during his presidency of SAG to win better pay and benefits for actors. He then went on to become the 33rd governor of California in 1967 before assuming the presidency in 1981. They married in 1952.

During her time as first lady, Reagan was remembered as an advocate for decreasing drug and alcohol abuse. Particularly the "Just Say No" campaign in the 1980s. While roundly ridiculed for the perceived simplicity of the slogan, her attention to the issue managed to raise attention about drug abuse in the public consciousness.
In 1994, after the former president was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, his wife told Vanity Fair: "Our relationship is very special. We were very much in love and still are. When I say my life began with Ronnie, well, it's true. It did. I can't imagine life without him."
It wasn't the first time Mrs. Reagan had faced the idea of her husband's death. After an assassination attempt on the former president in 1981, she turned to astrology, a move she was scrutinized for. "Astrology was simply one of the ways I coped with the fear I felt after my husband almost died," she wrote in her memoir, "My Turn."
He died in 2004 at the age of 93. During those 10 years, Mrs. Reagan priority was caring for her husband as he battled the disease.
"Nancy Reagan was totally devoted to President Reagan and we take comfort that they will be reunited once more. George and I send our prayers and condolences to her family," former first lady Barbara Bush said in a statement.
Michael Reagan, the adopted son of the former president and his first wife Jane Wyman wrote 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."

"Some underestimate the influence of a First Lady but from Martha and Abigail through Nancy and beyond, these women have shaped policy, strengthened resolve, and drawn on our better angels. God and Ronnie have finally welcomed a choice soul home," former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in a statement.

"Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House. She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice," President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama said in a statement.
“She called me for advice, suggestions. I was very happy to talk to her. We had a nice conversation," Mrs. Reagan told her biographer, Colacello, for a 2009 Vanity Fair article. Her suggestion: Host many state dinners.
"Our former first lady redefined the role in her time here. Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and promise to improve and save lives.
"We offer our sincerest condolences to their children, Patti, Ron and Michael, and to their grandchildren. And we remain grateful for Nancy Reagan's life, thankful for her guidance and prayerful that she and her beloved husband are together again," the statement said.
Long after retiring from public service, Mrs. Reagan continued her advocacy by forming the Nancy Reagan Foundation to combat drug abuse. She was also known for her work as an advocate for stem cell research, hoping to find a cure for Alzheimer's.
“Nancy Reagan lived a remarkable life and will be remembered for her strength and grace. On behalf of all Californians, Anne and I extend our deepest condolences to the Reagan family,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement.
In lieu of flowers, the public can pay their respects with a memorial gift to the Reagan Foundation, created by the Reagans to preserve their legacy.
She is survived by two children, Patti Davis, Ronald Prescott Reagan, her stepson Michael Reagan, her brother Dr. Richard Davis and numerous nieces and nephews.

This report will be updated.
Image via Wikimedia Commons