Foreman of President’s Ranch

Lee Clearwater, President Reagan’s friend and ranch foreman, was found dead of a heart attack Friday in his house on the presidential ranch in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Santa Barbara, a White House spokesman reported.

Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said Secret Service agents found the foreman’s body when they went to his house because they had not seen him Thursday night or Friday morning.

Speakes said the coroner found that Clearwater, about 60, suffered the attack sometime Thursday.

Clearwater, who had worked for the Reagans since they bought the ranch in 1974, “was more than an employee,” Speakes said, adding that both Clearwater and his wife were “dear friends of the Reagans.”