C. Boyden Gray, who personified the conservative legal establishment as a lawyer involved in legal strategy, judicial appointments, policy, diplomacy or fund-raising for every Republican president since Ronald Reagan, died on Sunday at his home in the Georgetown section of Washington. He was 80.
The cause was heart failure, his daughter, Eliza Gray, said.
Mr. Gray reached his highest government position as White House counsel under President George H.W. Bush. He became a trusted adviser said to be able to stroll into the Oval Office whenever he liked, and he was the frequent subject of palace-intrigue news coverage about Mr. Bush’s cabinet.
Yet Mr. Gray’s influence stretched beyond any particular job. Unlike other Washington conservatives of his generation, he kept in line with shifts in the political directionof the Republican Party.
In the Reagan administration, Mr. Gray — then counsel to Mr. Bush during his tenure as vice president — managed an effort to undo federal…
This article was written by Alex Traub and originally published on www.nytimes.com