
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 24, 1994                   TAG: 9404240012
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

NIXON DEAD AT 81

Richard Nixon died Friday, four days after suffering a major stroke that had left him in a deep coma, a spokesman for New York Hospital said. He was 81.

Nixon died at the hospital, where he was brought after suffering the stroke Monday night at his Park Ridge, N.J., home.

The former president was partly paralyzed on the right side and unable to speak even before he slipped into the coma Thursday.

In the hours after the stroke, doctors said Nixon was out of grave danger, alert and in good spirits. He was moved out of intensive care briefly Tuesday, but returned two hours later when doctors discovered a swelling of the brain.

Doctors sometimes try to reduce brain swelling after a stroke by using a respirator to speed up breathing. But Nixon was not put on a respirator in deference to his explicit wishes, several news organizations reported.

Nixon's stroke apparently was the result of a blood clot that formed in his heart and moved to the brain's middle cerebral artery. The blockage deprived this crucial cranial region of oxygen, damaging some brain tissue and causing the swelling.

Nixon had been working on his latest book when he was stricken. His daughters, Julie Eisenhower and Tricia Cox, were at his side as his condition deteriorated. His wife, Pat, died last year.

During his hospitalization, the Rev. Billy Graham, an old friend, stopped by to visit his daughters.

Foreign leaders sent letters of encouragement, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin whose telegram said, ``I hope you recover and return to the rough and tumble of political life.''

People lined up during the week at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif., to write down their wishes for his recovery.

Nixon was defeated by John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election after serving as a Republican congressman, senator and vice president. He was elected the 37th president in 1968.

In 1974, under the cloud of the Watergate scandal, he became the first president to resign.

Ron Walker, a Washington businessman and onetime White House aide to Nixon, said the former president's daughters were directing him in planning funeral observances at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif.

by CNB