After battling Alzheimer’s disease for a decade, Ronald Reagan died from pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer’s at his Bel Air home on June 5, 2004. Following his death, Reagan laid in repose at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum from June 7 to 9. Reagan’s body was transported to Washington, D.C., where a state funeral was conducted at Washington National Cathedral. He was later buried at his presidential library.
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Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was originally planned to be built at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., but plans were scrapped in 1987. A year later construction began on the free-standing site in Simi Valley, which was not far from the home in Bel Air that Ronald and Nancy Reagan had purchased after his departure from the presidency. On Nov. 4, 1991, the facility was dedicated with five U.S. presidents (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush) attending the ceremony. At the time of its completion the building was the largest presidential library in the country at 153,000 square-feet. It was surpassed in size when the William J. Clinton Presidential Library…