Even after when he left office, Reagan had a close friendship with both Thatcher and Gorbachev. They would often visit him at his home.
In May 1994, Reagan, along with former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in support of banning "semi-automatic assault guns."
On April 13, 1992, Reagan was assaulted by an anti-nuclear protester during a speech while accepting an award from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas. The protester was Richard Paul Springer. He smashed a 2-foot-high (60 cm) 30-pound (13.5 kg) crystal statue of an eagle that the broadcasters had given to Reagan. Pieces of glass hit Reagan, but he was not injured.
Springer was the founder of an anti-nuclear group called the "100th Monkey". Following his arrest on assault charges, a Secret Service spokesman did not say how Springer got past the agents. Later, Springer pled guilty to the federal charge of interfering with the Secret Service, but other felony charges of assault and fighting against officers were dropped.
Early in his presidency, Reagan started wearing a hearing aid, first in his right ear and later in his left as well. In 1985, he had colon cancer and skin cancer removed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1987, Reagan had surgery to remove polyp of the nose. Also in that year, Reagan went into surgery for an enlarged prostate.
In 1994, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
On November 5, 1994, Reagan wrote a public letter about having Alzheimer's disease, writing:
After announcing his disease, many people sent supporting letters to his California home. There was also an opinion based on unfinished evidence that Reagan had showed symptoms of mental decline while still in office.
In 1995, the Ronald and Nancy Reagan Research Institute was dedicated in Chicago, Illinois. It is an institution that can help people with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Reagan fell at his Bel Air home on January 13, 2001. He broke his hip. The fracture was repaired the next day. Reagan, 89 years old, returned home later that week, but he then had to do difficult physical therapy at home.
In her memoirs, former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl remembers about her final meeting with the president in 1986,
But then, at the end, he regained his alertness. As she described it,
As the years went on, the Alzheimer's disease slowly destroyed Reagan's mental capacity. He was only able to recognize a few people, including his wife, Nancy. He remained active during his last years. He took walks through parks near his home and on beaches, played golf regularly, and until 1999 he often went to his office in nearby Century City.
On February 6, 2001, Reagan reached the age of 90, becoming the third former president to do so (the other two being John Adams and Herbert Hoover, with Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter later reaching 90).
Reagan's public appearances became much less frequent with the progression of the disease. His family decided that he would live in quiet semi-isolation with his wife Nancy. Nancy Reagan told CNN's Larry King in 2001 that very few visitors were allowed to see her husband because she felt that "Ronnie would want people to remember him as he was." In that same year, Reagan's daughter, Maureen Reagan, died from melanoma at the age of 60.
The USS "Ronald Reagan" (CVN-76) was finished in 2001. A ceremony was held in March 2001. Reagan's wife, Nancy lead the ceremony. She christened the ship. Reagan could not go because he was very sick.
Following her husband's diagnosis and death, Nancy became a stem-cell research advocate. She urged Congress and President George W. Bush to support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush opposed the idea. In 2009, she praised President Barack Obama for lifting restrictions on such research. Mrs. Reagan believed that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's. Nancy died on March 6, 2016 at the age of 94.
On June 5, 2004, Reagan died at the age of 93 of pneumonia, caused by Alzheimer's disease, in his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California. A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement saying, "My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has died after 10 years of Alzheimer's disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers."
Reagan was granted a state funeral. Reagan's state funeral was the first in the United States since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973. It was held at the Washington National Cathedral on June 11 and presided by former Missouri United States senator John Danforth. President George W. Bush and former presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton went to the funeral. First Lady Laura Bush and former first ladies Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Barbara Bush also went.
Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson did not go to the funeral because of poor health. Reverend Billy Graham, who was Reagan's first choice to lead the funeral, could not go because he was recovering from surgery. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor also went to the funeral and delivered a passage from the Bible. The funeral was led by Reagan's close friend and pastor Michael Wenning.
Foreign leaders also went to Reagan's funeral, Mikhail Gorbachev, Prime Minister of United Kingdom Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq. Former Prime Minister of United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and both former President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush gave eulogies.
Reagan was buried later that day in an underground vault at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. His tomb reads,
Reagan met Jane Wyman while filming "Brother Rat" in 1938. He asked Wyman to marry him at the Chicago Theatre. They were married on January 20, 1940 in Glendale, California. They had two children: Michael (adopted) and Maureen Reagan. They had a third child, Christine Reagan, but she was stillborn. With Reagan's growing political career and the death of their child, Wyman filled for divorce in 1948. The divorce was final in 1949.
In 1949, months after divorcing Wyman, Reagan met Nancy Davis. Davis was an actress who was accidentally listed as a communist and asked Reagan to help. After Reagan helped Davis, the two began dating. Three years later, Reagan asked Davis to marry him in Beverly Hills, California. They were married on March 4, 1952 in Hollywood, California. Together, they had two children: Ron and Patti Reagan.
Wyman died of natural causes on September 10, 2010. She was aged 90. Nancy outlived her husband by eleven years. She died on March 6, 2016 of heart failure. She was aged 94.
In 2000, Ronald and Nancy Reagan received the Congressional Gold Medal in "recognition for their service to their nation".
In August 2004, a tribute to Reagan was shown at the 2004 Republican National Convention presented by his son, Michael Reagan.
In June 2007, Reagan received the Order of the White Eagle from Poland's president, Lech Kaczyński, for Reagan's work to end communism in Poland. Nancy Reagan travelled to Warsaw to accept the award for her husband.
On June 3, 2009, a statue of Reagan was added in the United States Capitol rotunda. The statue represents the state of California in the National Statuary Hall Collection. Following Reagan's death, both major American political parties agreed to place a statue of Reagan instead of that of Thomas Starr King.
Also in June 2009, President Obama signed the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act into law. It created a commission to plan activities to mark the upcoming centenary of Reagan's 100 birthday.