Edward Mills; Key Reagan Supporter

Edward “Ed” Mills, former president of the historic Van de Kamp Bakeries and a California Republican Party finance chairman who was one of the original key supporters and advisors of Ronald Reagan, has died. He was 94.

Mills died Sunday at his home in Irvine Cove in Laguna Beach, his daughter, Marianne Spielmann of Pasadena, said Tuesday.

Along with businessmen Holmes Tuttle, Justin Dart, Henry Salvatori and others in what came to be known as Reagan’s “kitchen cabinet,” Mills in the 1960s helped persuade then-actor Reagan to run for governor of California. Mills was highly active in Reagan’s gubernatorial campaigns, and in 1980 became a member of the advisory committee of the Reagan for President Campaign. Mills also served on the transition committee after Reagan’s election to the presidency.

As a major Republican fund-raiser in the 1960s and 1970s, Mills was a staunch opponent of proposals to limit campaign contributions from individuals.

“I think it interferes with free speech, really,” Mills told The Times in 1973, commenting on one such proposal. “I think if we want to support our candidates we should be allowed to do so. We should be able to buy a newspaper ad if we want to.”

Mills was a delegate to every quadrennial Republican National Convention to select presidential nominees from 1968 to 1984.

Born in Holland, Mich., he moved to Southern California with his family when he was 13 and studied business at USC. Beginning as a stock boy during his student days, Mills spent more than 25 years with Van de Kamp Bakeries, rising to vice president and then president.

After the hometown company was sold, Mills left in 1955 to join Community Bank as a vice president and later became its president. He also held executive positions at G.I. Trucking Corp., Holmes Tuttle Enterprises and California Savings and Loan Assn. and was named to several companies’ boards of directors.

Mills was also a community leader, serving as president and chairman of the Los Angeles County chapter of the American Cancer Society, general chairman of the fund-raising organization Community Chest and board chairman of its successor, United Way. He was also chairman of the Western Safety Congress. He headed USC’s School of Commerce Alumni Assn. and headed the university’s Alumni Fund.

At USC, Mills and his four late brothers belonged to Sigma Nu fraternity. He remained a lifelong supporter of the fraternity and helped fund its national Ethical Leadership Center, based in Lexington, Va.

An Eagle Scout, Mills was on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Area Council of Boy Scouts of America for more than 40 years.

Mills and his wife, Grace, who died in 1989, raised their family in Silver Lake but moved to Laguna Beach in 1963.

In addition to his daughter Marianne, Mills is survived by another daughter, Carolyn Scarborough of Colorado Springs, Colo.; a sister, Juanita Feeder of Van Nuys; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A third daughter, Lauranita Hill, died in 1981.

Services are scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar.

The family has asked that memorial donations be given to charities of the donor’s choice.