Neil Reagan

John Neil Reagan was born on September 16, 1908, in Tampico, Illinois. He was the elder brother of Ronald Reagan, who later became the 40th President of the United States and a noted Hollywood actor. Neil Reagan was baptized into the Catholic faith, the religion of his father, and later associated with his father's denomination. His family background included religious diversity, as his younger brother was raised in their mother's Disciples of Christ church.

Neil Reagan was known for a lively and sociable temperament during his youth. His family and friends referred to him by the nickname "Moon," a moniker inspired by the Moon Mullins comic strip. He completed his higher education at Eureka College in 1933, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Subsequently, he moved to California following his brother and built a career in television production and advertising.

Throughout the 1930s to the 1950s, Neil Reagan directed the radio series "Dr. Christian," starring Jean Hersholt. In addition to his radio work, he had a brief career in Hollywood as a supporting actor, appearing in films such as "Tugboat Annie Sails Again" (1940) and "Doughboys in Ireland" (1943). He also directed his brother Ronald Reagan in the television series "Death Valley Days."

Neil Reagan served as president of both the Hollywood and Los Angeles advertising clubs and contributed to various community and professional organizations, including the Crippled Children's Society of Los Angeles, the Kennedy Child Study Center in Santa Monica, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

In politics, Neil Reagan participated as an alternate delegate from California to the 1972 Republican National Convention and as a delegate to the 1980 Republican National Convention.

In honor of both Neil and Ronald Reagan, the Reagan Physical Education Center was dedicated at Eureka College in 1970. In 1982, Ronald Reagan delivered a significant foreign policy speech, known as the START or Eureka speech, at the Reagan Center.

Neil Reagan was married to Ruth Elizabeth "Bess" Reagan (née Hoffman) in 1935. Bess Reagan was born in 1908 and passed away in 2010 at the age of 102. The couple did not have children. Neil Reagan died from heart failure on December 11, 1996, in a hospital in San Diego, California, at the age of 88. He was interred at Highland Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa.