Nancy Clark Reynolds (June 26, 1927 – May 23, 2022) was an American television journalist who went on to become a press secretary for Ronald Reagan and was a founder of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

firm Wexler, Reynolds, Harrison & Schule.

Early life

Reynolds was born in Pocatello, a small city in southeast

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

. Her father, David Worth Clark, was a lawyer who went on to become a U.S. Senator from Idaho and her mother, Virgil Irwin Clark, was a homemaker. She studied at high school in Washington and later, English at Goucher College, in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, graduating in 1945.

Career

Reynolds worked as a reporter for a

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

TV station, WBAL. She worked as the host of a daytime talk show in

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

after divorcing Wurzberger. A few years later she moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and eventually joined Governor Reagan's staff. She worked as an assistant press secretary and then as a special assistant for Reagan. In 1981, President Reagan named her the U.S. representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. In 1985, Reynolds served as co-chair of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Decade for Women World Conference in Nairobi. She worked for the building materials company, Boise Cascade, as its head of government relations. Later, she held the same job for the manufacturer Bendix until 1983. She worked for six months in 1980 on Reagan's White House transition team. She started the lobbying firm along with

Anne Wexler Anne Levy Wexler (February 10, 1930 – August 7, 2009) was an influential American Democratic political consultant, public policy advisor, and later the first woman to head a leading lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. Early life and education ...

in 1983. Her partners at the lobbying group included, apart from Wexler, Robert Schule, a former

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter ...

aide, and Gail Harrison, who had been Vice President

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

’s chief domestic-policy adviser. The clients of the lobbying group included General Motors,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

, and MCI Communications.

Personal life

Reynolds married Bill Wurzberger and had three children with him. They were divorced in 1961. She later married and divorced Frank Reynolds, a journalist, Republican campaign aide and lobbyist. Reynolds died on May 23, 2022 at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the age of 94, survived by her partner Bob Kemble.

Events

She had spent time with the paleoanthropologist

Richard Leakey Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife conse ...

in Africa. She had dated J. D. Salinger and Jack Valenti.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark Reynolds, Nancy 1927 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American journalists American women journalists Reagan administration personnel