Former US President Ronald Reagan has died, aged 93, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He died at home in Los Angeles, where his family were with him.
Current US President George W Bush said Ronald Reagan "won America's respect with his greatness. And won its love with his goodness."
Reagan's White House tenure - from 1981 to 1989 - was marked by the climax of the Cold War and the beginning of the end of Soviet communism.
He passed away at 1300 (2000GMT) on Saturday from pneumonia, a complication of the Alzheimer's which had afflicted him for a decade. "We appreciate everyone's prayers over the years," said his wife Nancy, who has cared for him through his illness.
She protected his privacy and had refused to disclose detailed information about the effect his condition had on him.
The couple were married for 52 years.
President Bush, who is currently in France to mark the anniversary of the D-Day landings, said Reagan leaves behind "a nation he restored and a world he helped save". May God bless Ronald Reagan," he said.
Oldest president
Reagan revealed in November 1994 that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which destroys brain cells and causes memory loss. Last month, Mrs Reagan revealed that her husband's illness had got worse. Ronnie's long journey has taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she said.
Reagan's body will be taken to his presidential library and museum in Simi Valley, California and then flown to Washington for a state funeral. His body will then return to California for burial near his library. Reagan was the 40th president of the US, taking office at the age of 69, the oldest to do so. He lived longer than any US president. Before entering politics he had a career in Hollywood films, but never made it big. He described himself as the Errol Flynn of the B-movies.
'Humour and humanity'
World figures have been paying tribute to the former leader.
He was truly a great politician who eventually brought down the Iron Curtain - may he rest in peace and always be thought of as the great liberator of Eastern Europe
Christian A. Hehn, Hanover, Germany
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has spoken warmly of the man many regarded as her ideological soulmate during the Cold War years.
"President Reagan was one of my closest political and dearest personal friends," she said.
She credited him with having "won the Cold War for liberty... without a shot being fired."
"To have achieved so much against so many odds and with such humour and humanity made Ronald Reagan a truly great American hero."
Former US President George Bush Senior remembered Reagan's public speaking skills, describing his "many speeches that could just muster the best in us as a country".
