William Clark | Close Reagan adviser, 81

William Clark, 81, a close adviser to Ronald Reagan who served the president as national security adviser and interior secretary, and also by riding his horse, a white Lipizzaner stallion named Amadeus, died Saturday at his ranch in Shandon, Calif.

The cause was Parkinson's disease, said his son Paul Clark.

Mr. Clark's association with Reagan dated to the future president's successful gubernatorial race in California in 1966, when Mr. Clark impressed him as a county-level campaign organizer. For the next two decades, Mr. Clark's career followed Reagan's to the height of influence in the White House. It was sometimes said that Reagan regarded Mr. Clark as a brother.

As governor, Reagan made him his chief of staff and, later, a justice of the state Supreme Court. When he was elected president, Reagan called Mr. Clark to Washington, initially as deputy secretary of state under Alexander Haig in 1981. By the time Mr. Clark returned to his ranch in 1985, he was widely known as one of the most powerful figures of Reagan's first term.

And with his cowboy boots and Stetson, Mr. Clark exuded a degree of authenticity not found in all Washington insiders. He woke before dawn to study the issues of the day - and also to ride Amadeus down the Mall.

- Washington Post