Richard Pipes, a renowned U.S. historian of Russia and an aide to former President Ronald Reagan, has died at the age of 94.
Pipes died early on May 17 at a nursing home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his son Daniel said.
Born in Poland in 1923, Pipes and his family fled the Nazi occupation of the country and moved to the United States in 1940.
Pipes taught history at Harvard University, where he spent his entire academic career until retirement in 1996.
He wrote numerous histories of Russia and the Soviet Union, becoming a world authority on the subject.
In 1976, Pipes led a group of military and foreign relations experts who conducted a CIA-commissioned analysis of Soviet military strategy and foreign policy.
The resulting report helped shape opposition among conservative policymakers to arms-control talks and accommodation with the Soviet Union, contributing to Reagan's policy of challenging Moscow's grip on the Eastern Bloc.
In the early 1980s, Pipes served as director of Eastern European and Soviet Affairs for the National Security Council under Reagan.
Based on reporting by AP and nytimes.com
