Maureen Reagan Revell, the outspoken daughter of former US president Ronald Reagan and his first wife Jane Wyman, lost a five-year battle with skin cancer on Wednesday. Maureen died aged 60 at her home near Sacramento, California.
A Republican since 1960 and a dedicated feminist, Maureen worked tirelessly for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution and campaigned with vigoUr for women political candidates. Though twice defeated herself in congressional bids, she continued working with the Republican party and was perhaps most active in the Eighties.
Maureen and her father often clashed politically over issues including abortion rights, although, they were fiercly loyal to each other. “Like all fathers and daughters, there was a unique bond between them,” said her stepmother, Nancy Reagan, who broke the news to Ronald at their Bel-Air home. “Maureen had his gift of communication, his love of politics, and when she believed in a cause, she was not afraid to fight hard for it.”
The strong-willed activist turned her energies towards the Alzheimer’s Association after her father announced he had the disease in 1994. “I consider this his unfinished work,” she told a US newspaper. “If this were any other disease, my father would be out telling people what they needed to know.”
“Maureen was a devoted, caring daughter and mother. She fought tirelessly to increase funding for Alzheimer’s research and raise public awareness of the disease,” said US President George W Bush. “Laura and I are deeply saddened to learn of Maureen Reagan’s death.”
The tough-minded political player found a great many friends in Washington, despite her notoriously blunt nature. “Maureen was great fun,” said Republican Pete Wilson, a one-time senator and governor of California. “Outspoken and articulate, blessed with boundless energy, she crammed a lot of living and a lot of laughter into her too-short 60 years.”
Maureen Elizabeth Reagan was born on Jan 4, 1941. She grew up in Hollywood and after attending Marymount College in Virginia for one year she dropped out to pursue an acting career. She enjoyed brief success including bit parts on television and a stint as a radio talk show host.
She married John Filippone, a Washington policeman, in 1960 but the two divorced a year later. A four-year marriage to David Sills, a marine corps lieutenant, also ended in divorce. She later married PR executive Dennis C Revell, and the couple enjoyed 20 years of happy marriage.
She is survived by her husband, Dennis C Revell and their 16-year-old adopted daughter Rita.
Maureen will be laid to rest on August 18 at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Sacramento.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
