An assistant to the former first lady has confirmed Nancy Reagan has died in her home in Bel-Air, California, of congestive heart failure.

She died Sunday after having been in failing health for several years. Reagan outlived her husband, conservative icon former President Ronald Reagan by over eleven years. Ronald Reagan died June 5, 2004 after suffering with Alzheimer’s disease for nearly a decade.

Nancy Reagan’s step son, Michael Reagan tweeted, “I am saddened by the passing of my step mother Nancy Reagan… She is once again with the man she loved.God Bless…”

Nancy Davis Reagan, who’s real name was Anne Frances Robbins, was an actress who appeared in her first screen role in Shadow on the Wall. Ronald and Nancy met in 1950 while the future POTUS was serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild and Nancy was attempting to clear her name as a possible communist sympathizer from the McCarthy-era Hollywood blacklist. The two were married March 4, 1952, in Los Angeles at the Little Brown Church in the Valley.

Nancy was a notoriously dedicated companion and caretaker to her husband through his years in office and later when he suffered with Alzheimer’s until he passed away at the age of 93.

— jared@coloradostatesman.com