Doria Palmieri (died March 24, 2014) was an American clinical psychologist and former publishing worker best known as the first wife of Ron Reagan, the son of former US President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan. She worked in New York’s publishing industry, including at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, before establishing a career in clinical psychology.
Palmieri married Ron Reagan on November 24, 1980, shortly after his father won the presidential election. Their marriage lasted more than 33 years, until her death in Seattle in 2014. Although her connection to the Reagan family attracted public attention, her professional life followed a separate path through publishing and psychology.
Key takeaways
- Career: Doria Palmieri worked as a literary researcher and editorial assistant before becoming a clinical psychologist.
- Publishing background: She worked at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, according to firsthand accounts from former colleagues Bob Colacello and John O’Connor.
- Marriage: She married Ronald Prescott Reagan on November 24, 1980, in Manhattan, before his father’s presidential inauguration.
- Family: Palmieri and Ron Reagan eventually settled in Seattle and had no children.
- Death: She died on March 24, 2014, aged 62. Ron Reagan attributed her death to complications from a progressive neuromuscular disease.
Doria Palmieri profile summary
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Doria Palmieri |
| Also known as | Doria Reagan; Doria Palmieri Reagan |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupations | Clinical psychologist, literary researcher and editorial assistant |
| Education | Studied philosophy at California State College at Northridge, according to a 1981 interview |
| Notable professional association | Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine |
| Husband | Ron Reagan (married November 24, 1980–March 24, 2014) |
| Father-in-law | Ronald Reagan, 40th US president |
| Mother-in-law | Nancy Reagan |
| Children | None |
| Later home | Seattle, Washington |
| Date of death | March 24, 2014 |
| Age at death | 62, as reported by Vanity Fair |
| Reported cause of death | Complications from a progressive neuromuscular disease, according to Ron Reagan |
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library confirms the marriage and its duration, while contemporary newspaper reporting documents Palmieri’s occupations and later life.
Her early career in publishing
Before becoming connected to one of America’s best-known political families, Palmieri worked in publishing.
In November 1980, The Washington Post identified her as a researcher for a publishing house. A January 1981 profile described her as an editorial assistant, while TIME referred to her as a literary researcher.
The work placed Palmieri in New York’s publishing industry at a time when she and Ron Reagan were living in Manhattan.
In a January 1981 interview with The Washington Post, Palmieri also discussed her education. She said she had studied philosophy at California State College at Northridge but had not graduated at that point.
She expressed interest in further study in special education. Her subsequent educational path is less clearly documented.
Working at Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine
One of the better-documented parts of Palmieri’s publishing career was her employment at Interview, the magazine founded by Andy Warhol and John Wilcock in 1969.
The publication covered art, fashion, film and celebrity culture, becoming closely associated with New York’s creative community.
Palmieri’s role there is supported by accounts from two people who worked with her.
Bob Colacello, a former editor of Interview, recalled Palmieri working as his assistant in a March 2016 Vanity Fair article.
John O’Connor provided a separate account in his March 2016 essay, From Warhol to Reagan: The Journey of a Twenty-Something.
O’Connor remembered working alongside Doria Reagan at the magazine and described her responsibilities as those of a contributing editor and secretary to Colacello.
Together, their recollections establish a specific professional role for Palmieri during her years in publishing.
They also help explain an important part of her early career that is easily overlooked when her life is described solely through her marriage.
Her later career as a clinical psychologist
Palmieri subsequently entered clinical psychology.
By July 2004, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer identified her as a clinical psychologist in an article about Ron Reagan and his life in Seattle.
The 2004 interview provides a clear indication that psychology had become Palmieri’s profession.
A January 2011 Washington Post profile also described her as a working psychologist. The Los Angeles Times used the same professional identification in 2014.
The precise timing of her transition from publishing to psychology is not established in those accounts. Nor do they identify the specific qualifications or institutions associated with her clinical training.
What is documented is the broader professional progression: Palmieri worked in publishing during the early years of her marriage and was practising psychology by the time she and Ron Reagan had settled in Seattle.
How Doria Palmieri met and married Ron Reagan
Palmieri met Ron Reagan at the Stanley Holden dance school in Los Angeles during the 1970s.
Ron, whose full name is Ronald Prescott Reagan, was pursuing a career in ballet. He later performed with the Joffrey Ballet before moving into broadcasting and political commentary.
The couple’s relationship began before Ronald Reagan became president.
By 1980, they were living together in New York, where Ron was continuing his involvement in dance and Palmieri was working in publishing.
Their November 1980 wedding
On November 24, 1980, Palmieri and Ron Reagan married in Manhattan.
The ceremony took place in the chambers of New York State Supreme Court Justice Lester Evans.
According to contemporary reporting by The Washington Post, Palmieri was 29 and Reagan was 22.
The wedding was an informal civil ceremony rather than a traditional family celebration. Neither Ronald Reagan nor Nancy Reagan attended.
Its timing attracted attention because Ronald Reagan had won the presidential election just 20 days earlier, on November 4.
The couple married before his inauguration on January 20, 1981, making Palmieri a member of the incoming president’s family before he entered the White House.
The ceremony and its circumstances became a subject of newspaper coverage, particularly because of the family’s national prominence.
Despite the attention, the marriage endured for more than three decades.
Her relationship with the Reagan family
Palmieri’s relationship with her husband’s family attracted occasional public interest.
In a 2011 interview, Ron Reagan recalled that his parents initially had reservations about Doria. He also described the relationship as improving over time.
Official White House records show that Palmieri participated in family gatherings during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
The president’s daily diary for May 10, 1981, lists Mrs. Ronald P. (Doria) Reagan among those attending lunch and dinner with the president and first lady.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s family photograph collection also identifies her in photographs from presidential family occasions, including Christmas gatherings and inauguration events.
These records establish her participation in family life during the White House years, although they cannot reveal the private dynamics of those relationships.
Palmieri herself occasionally spoke to journalists about her marriage.
In her January 1981 Washington Post interview, she described the couple’s mutual respect with a brief comment:
> “We’re like fans of each other.”
The statement offers a rare directly attributed glimpse of how Palmieri described the relationship in its early years.
Life in Seattle
Palmieri and Ron Reagan eventually made their home in Seattle, Washington.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, they moved from Los Angeles to Seattle around 1994.
By then, Ron Reagan had developed a broadcasting career after leaving professional ballet, while Palmieri’s work had shifted towards psychology.
The couple maintained their marriage while pursuing different professional interests.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported in 2004 that they had no children, a detail also included in The Washington Post‘s 2011 profile.
Although much of the attention directed at the couple concerned Ron Reagan’s relationship with his famous parents, Palmieri continued her own professional work.
Her career in clinical psychology remained part of her life even after she began experiencing serious health problems.
Doria Palmieri’s illness and death
Doria Palmieri died on March 24, 2014, aged 62.
Her death followed a prolonged illness that had already been discussed in public reporting several years earlier.
In January 2011, The Washington Post described Palmieri as undergoing treatment for a degenerative illness while continuing to work as a psychologist.
Following her death, Ron Reagan spoke with Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian.
In the May 30, 2014, Los Angeles Times article, he attributed her death to complications from a progressive neuromuscular disease.
Such diseases affect the nerves or muscles involved in movement and other physical functions. The description does not, by itself, identify a particular medical condition.
The specific diagnosis was not established in the family’s account.
Bob Colacello also referred to Palmieri’s death and illness in his March 2016 Vanity Fair article, describing her as 62 at the time of her death.
Her marriage to Ron Reagan lasted more than 33 years, from November 1980 until March 2014.
The couple did not divorce.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library records that Ron Reagan later married Federica Basagni in 2018.
Palmieri’s documented life connects two very different professional settings: the New York publishing world of the early 1980s and her later work in clinical psychology in Seattle. Her marriage brought her into the Reagan family’s public history, but contemporary interviews and accounts from former colleagues also preserve a record of her own working life.
