Stuart K. Spencer, a Republican strategist who took a washed-up movie actor named Ronald Reagan and helped make him California governor and, later, president — helping invent the modern political consulting business along the way — has died.

Stuart K. Spencer, a Republican political consultant who engineered Ronald Reagan’s winning campaigns for the California governor’s office and the U.S. presidency, transforming a B-movie actor into one of the most successful politicians of his time,

One of the nation’s first campaign consultants for hire, he advised leading Republicans, including President Gerald Ford, but Reagan was his prized candidate.