It was always a pleasure to get a phone call from Mike Reagan — an even greater one to sit down with him for lunch or dinner, whether in California or Washington.

When news hit that the eldest son of the 40th president had passed, great memories flooded my mind.

Perhaps the notable thing about him was that he possessed the same gift for storytelling and humor that made his father so beloved.

"Your friend [actress] Ana Alicia had lunch with me in Sherman Oaks [California] and says she wants to revive 'Falcon Crest,'" Mike once told me, referring to the long-running TV series that starred his mother, Academy Award-winning actress Jane Wyman.

"I told her there's no chance. How do you revive a show when mom — and all the big stars like Cesar Romero — are gone? It can't happen."

When meeting new people, Mike would often hear how wonderful it must have been to have his parents in the White House.

His reply was always quick and dry: "Jane Wyman's my mom — not Nancy Reagan. And she made more money in one year on 'Falcon Crest' than my dad made in all eight years as president."

When word came last week that Michael Edward Reagan died at age 80 after a long battle with cancer, these were among my warm memories.

Like many children of famous parents, Mike was often known more for who his parents were than for who he was.

But those who knew him recognized a man who, in midlife, carved out his own successful career as a syndicated radio talk-show host and commentator and columnist for Newsmax.

He excelled at it, offering insights shaped by a lifetime of observing politics up close — from his father's years as governor of California to the presidency — always delivered with an infectious sense of humor.

Yet Mike Reagan's life was not without struggle.

Struggling in Youth, but Emerging on Top

One of the first things people noticed about Mike Reagan was that he looked little like either of his famous parents — unlike his late older sister Maureen, who bore a striking resemblance to Jane Wyman.

That was because Mike was born in 1945 to an unmarried woman and a man named John Charles Flaugher.

He was adopted in infancy by Ronald and Jane Reagan, then rising stars at Warner Bros., and raised in Hollywood. His parents divorced when he was just 4 years old.

Growing up in the heart of show business was difficult for the shy young boy.

Mike was expelled from Loyola High School for disciplinary reasons and eventually graduated from the Judson School in Arizona. He briefly attended Arizona State University but never earned a degree.

Splitting time between his mother during the week and his father on weekends — before eventually moving in with Ronald and Nancy Reagan and their two younger children in the early 1960s — Mike worked a series of jobs.

He worked on the Los Angeles docks, sold clothing, raced speedboats, and even worked for a catering company.

"When Dad was elected governor in 1966, I thought he'd give me a big job in state government," Mike once told me. "Instead, he said he hated nepotism — especially John Kennedy making his brother Bobby attorney general.

"He told me to go out and do my own thing."

Mike's true political baptism came in 1975, just days after marrying his wife, Colleen, and learning that his father would run for president.

"Politics," Mike later said, "would be part of our lives for the next 50 years."

He and Colleen campaigned tirelessly for Ronald Reagan in the closely contested 1976 race against President Gerald Ford and again during Reagan's landslide victories in 1980 and 1984.

Mike also remained politically active in later years, campaigning for Newt Gingrich during his 2012 presidential bid.

Mike and Colleen were parents to Ronald Reagan's only grandchildren, Cameron and Ashley, whom they frequently brought to the White House during Reagan's presidency.

The president would sign notes and photographs not as "Grandpa," but as "Ronald Reagan."

As Mike joked, "That way they'd be worth more — and could be sold to pay for college."

Conservative — and a Family Man

On radio and in print, Mike Reagan championed a Goldwater-style conservatism, but he was never afraid to break ranks when he believed principle demanded it.

In 2016, he initially did not support Donald Trump, but in the closing weeks of the campaign endorsed him.

He would later back the 45th and 47th president in 2020 and 2024.

No conversation with Mike ever strayed far from his devotion to Colleen or his pride in Cameron and Ashley.

He was especially delighted to share that after Cameron fathered two daughters, he and his wife had a son.

When I asked whether he urged them to name the boy Ronald, Mike laughed. "No way. Everyone would expect too much of him — and my dad would agree."

(Indeed, Ronald and Nancy Reagan named their own son Ronald but gave him a different middle name so he would not be a junior.)

As a commentator and best-selling author, Mike Reagan earned a legacy far beyond being the son of famous parents.

Those who knew him remember a devoted husband, a loving father, a principled conservative.

I will remember him for those things, but also as a loyal friend whose warmth, wit, and humanity reflected the best qualities of the man he proudly called dad.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.