By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Jerry Parr, the Secret Service agent who helped save President Ronal Reagan from a 1981 assassination attempt, has died at a hospice in Washington, the Los Angeles Times reports.
He died Friday of congestive heart failure at the age of 85.
Parr shoved the president into a limousine after John Hinckley Jr. unloaded five shots – one of which struck Reagan – outside the Washington Hilton.
“Jerry Parr was one of my true heroes,” Nancy Reagan said in a statement Friday. “Without Jerry looking out for Ronnie on March 30, 1981, I would have certainly lost my best friend and roommate to an assassin’s bullet.”
Parr was born in Montgomery, Ala., in September 1930 and was thrust into the spotlight after being credited with saving the president’s life.
