Rick Ahearn

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Frederick Leonard Ahearn (November 6, 1949 – November 14, 2023) was an American political and corporate consultant. He led Potomac Communications Strategies in Alexandria, Virginia, and is best known for being Ronald Reagan’s lead advance man during his campaigns and presidency. He was near Reagan during the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt, staying with the President and helping afterward while briefing reporters.

Ahearn helped plan Reagan’s state funeral in 2004 and later advised Jack Kemp (2009) and Nancy Reagan (2016). He worked for five presidents and six vice presidents, and assisted in 14 presidential campaigns from 1968 to 2016.

Born in Boston to Francis X. Ahearn and Doris E. Ahearn, he grew up in Chestnut Hill. He attended Boston Latin School and Brighton High School, studied marketing at Boston College, and began his political career in his teens. He worked for Democratic Hubert Humphrey in 1968, then for Republican officials, and eventually shifted from the Democrats to the Republicans in the early 1970s. He held various White House and campaign roles, including advancing events and coordinating visits with Reagan.

Key career highlights include early work for Nixon, roles in the Ford and Reagan campaigns, and positions such as regional representative of the Secretary of Labor, deputy director of Presidential Advance, and involvement in Reagan’s transition and final campaigns. He also helped arrange notable public events, such as a 1983 bar visit with Reagan in Dorchester, and Reagan’s walk in Moscow in 1988.

In later years, Ahearn worked with Bill Simon’s campaign in California, supported Rudolph Giuliani’s 2008 bid, and helped with California’s Yes on 8 campaign. He also advised Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and worked on the Trump-Pence inaugural committee.

Personal life: In 1990 he married Pamela Gardner, a longtime government protocol officer; she died in 2007. He later had a relationship with Maria Mastorakos. Ahearn died on November 14, 2023, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, at age 74, from complications of surgery.