Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America, died on 5 June 2004, aged 93. Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois on 6 February 1911. After working as a radio announcer and an actor, he served two terms as California governor from 1967-73. In 1976 he challenged and then defeated incumbent president Gerald Ford to gain the Republican nomination. In the subsequent election he received the highest number of electoral votes ever attained by any presidential candidate at that time. Reelected in 1984 with an even higher majority, his two terms were marked by a significant improvement in the U.S. economy, accelerated Reaganomics, and the end of the Cold War with the USSR. Reagan also renewed a commitment to space exploration and science. Officially diagnosed in 1994 with Alzheimer’s disease, Reagan subsequently withdrew from public life. His wife of fifty-three years, former first lady Nancy Reagan, survives him. He is also survived by his two children: Maureen and Michael, and four grandchildren. The world mourns the passing of this much-loved political figure.