First American ambassador to the Vatican and Reagan confidante William A. Wilson dies

First US ambassador to the Vatican dead at 95

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — William A. Wilson, the first American to serve as ambassador to the Vatican and a member of President Ronald Reagan’s “kitchen cabinet” of advisers, has died. He was 95.

Wilson’s daughter, Marcia Wilson Hobbs, says Wilson died around 1 a.m. Saturday at his home in Carmel.

Reagan first appointed Wilson as presidential envoy to Rome in 1981. The United States did not have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican at that time. In 1984, he appointed Wilson as the first ambassador.

Longtime family friend Bee Canterbury Lavery said Wilson and his late wife Elizabeth owned a ranch in Sonora, Mexico, where Reagan often vacationed and where he famously was thrown from his horse.

Hobbs said arrangements are pending.