Posted: Wednesday, June 9, 12:09 a.m. The University canceled Friday classes in observance of President Reagan’s death.

With GW also suspending business operations Friday, all non-essential employees will have the day off to join in what President Bush has called a national day of mourning.

There was a strong relationship between GW and Reagan since his attempted assassination in 1981. It was in GW’s Hospital that a crew of 65 medical personnel saved Reagan’s life after he was shot by would-be assassin John Hinckley.

In 1991, the University awarded Reagan an honorary doctor of public service degree, and later attached his name to the GW Hospital’s Institute of Emergency Medicine.

“President Reagan was an inspirational leader and a dear friend to The George Washington University,” University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg said in a Tuesday press release. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as we honor his life and his legacy and mourn his passing.”

Reagan’s body is due to arrive in Washington late Wednesday afternoon, according to The Washington Post. After being transported by hearse from Andrews Air Force Base to the District, his casket will be moved onto a horse-drawn caisson at 16th Street and Constitution Avenue at 6 p.m.

The procession, led by the elite Caisson Platoon of the Army’s 3rd Infanty Regiment, will go from the intersection of 16th and Constitution to the Capitol, where the body will lie in state for public viewing. A closed ceremony for national leaders and foreign heads of state will take place in the Rotunda at 7 p.m.

Starting at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, the public will be allowed to pay its respects during a 30-hour viewing period that will continue through Thursday.

Reagan’s funeral service at the National Cathedral will take place at 11:30 a.m. Friday. His final resting place will be the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.