V.

Later Years

After retiring to California, Reagan supported conservatives on many issues. He published his autobiography, An American Life, in 1990, and he presided at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in 1991.

In November 1994 Reagan announced that he had Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative disease of the brain. One year later Reagan and his wife, Nancy, announced that they, along with the national Alzheimer’s Association, would establish the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute to help find treatments and eventually a cure for the disease. Reagan died in Bel Air, California, on June 5, 2004.