[Deathwatch] Donald Regan, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, 84

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Former Treasury Chief Regan, 84, Dies of Cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Regan, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary and
chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co. has died of cancer,
Merrill said on Tuesday. He was 84.

Regan, who led the U.S. Treasury under President Reagan from 1981 until
1985, was born in 1918 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The son of a
railroad worker, he worked to pay his way through Harvard and became a
stockbroker after service as a Marine officer in the Pacific during
World War II.

He was White House chief of staff from 1985 until 1987 and had a
reputation as a tough boss who ran the presidential staff with a stern
hand and liked to be referred to as "the chief."

In his heyday he was called behind his back "The Prime Minister" for
his well-enforced boast that he guarded President Reagan's door and
controlled the president's agenda.

He joined Merrill Lynch in 1946 as a trainee and became the firm's
chairman and CEO in 1971 -- the same year the company went public --
holding those titles until 1980. Among other things, he was
instrumental in broadening Merrill from a brokerage house into a
full-service financial company.

Regan was one of the original directors of the Securities Investment
Protection Corporation and, from 1973 to 1975, was vice chairman of the
New York Stock Exchange.

"I am saddened to learn of the death of Don Regan," current U.S.
Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a statement. "Don will be
remembered as a great Treasury secretary and an innovative leader of
the American business community."

Regan is survived by his wife of 60 years, Ann Buchanan Regan of
Williamsburg, Virginia, four children and nine grandchildren.