Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother, has died at the age of 86.
His death was confirmed in emotional statements from former first lady and former President Barack Obama.
“My mother Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed,” Michelle Obama wrote on X Friday. “She was the same constant support to our entire family, and we are heartbroken to announce that she passed away today.”
Barack Obama also wrote: “There was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted by the extraordinary gift of his life. And we will spend the rest of our time trying to live up to his example.
She died “peacefully” Friday morning, according to family members.
Marian Lois Shields Robinson was born in 1937, one of seven children raised in a “small upstairs apartment on the red-lined South Side of Chicago,” family members wrote in a statement posted on Medium. The statement came from Barack and Michelle Obama, Craig and Kelly Robinson, and their children.
The family described how Robinson watched his parents face the challenges of racial segregation. Her father, Purnell Shields, could not join a union or work for certain construction companies because of the color of his skin.
Marian, who studied to be a teacher and later worked as a secretary before becoming a housewife, married Fraser Robinson and had two children, Craig and Michelle.
Michelle Obama, in a recent Mother’s Day message, recalled that her mother was a strong advocate for education, frequently taking children to the library and encouraging them to learn to read from a young age. Both Craig and Michelle would attend Princeton University. Mrs. Obama also has a law degree from Harvard.
The family described Robinson as a constant source of support and encouragement, especially when Michelle “married a guy crazy enough to go into politics.”
“At every step, as our families took paths none of us could have predicted, she remained our refuge from the storm, keeping our feet on the ground,” the family wrote in their statement.
“On election night in 2008, when the news broke that Barack would soon carry the weight of the world, she was there, holding his hand. »
In the early 1970s, widowed and living in Chicago, Robinson joined the Obamas when they moved into the White House and lived with them until the end of Barack Obama’s second term in 2016, although Robinson was reluctant to enter the political spotlight.
“I begged her,” Michelle Obama wrote in her book,The light we carry. “I had Craig twist her arm more… She steadied us all.”
Craig later wrote that he said the move would be an opportunity to try something new, something Marian Robinson always encouraged for her children.
In a preface to Craig Robinson’s memoir, Marian herself wrote: “There were many good and valid reasons that Michelle brought up to me. [about going to Washington]not the least of which was the opportunity to continue to spend time with my granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, and help give them a sense of normalcy that is a priority for both of their parents, as is the case since the moment Barack began his political career.”
At the White House, Robinson preferred spending time with Malia and Sasha, helping around the house or chatting with the ushers and butlers who worked in the presidential residence, the family statement said.
“The only guest she insisted on asking to meet was the Pope,” the family wrote.
Robinson occasionally went out of the White House to buy greeting cards and downplayed it when people asked her if she was related to the first family, telling them, “Oh, I get that a lot.” »
She also enjoyed making visits to see shows from the President’s box at the Kennedy Center.
Before the election of Barack Obama, she had never traveled outside the United States.
Having lived in the White House, she frequently joined the Obamas on international trips, visiting countries including France, Russia, Italy and Ghana in 2009, as well as visits to South Africa and Botswana in 2011 and in China in 2014.
Before his death, the Obamas announced that they would name an exhibit at the Obama Presidential Center Museum, “Overture of the White House,” in Robinson’s honor.
Notable people who crossed paths with Robinson also expressed their condolences.
Tennis champion and LGBT+ pioneer Billie Jean King expressed her “deepest condolences”, recalling a happy moment she had with Ms Robinson during the US Open tennis competition in 2013.
Viola Davis, the actress and film producer known for her leading roles in the 2011s. Ugly and the ABC television show How to escape murder, wrote on Instagram: “What a silent and powerful force you were.
The Obamas and Robinsons wrote in their statement that they were comforted to think that Marian had joined her husband Fraser, a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department, who died in 1991.
“We are comforted to know that she is back in the arms of her beloved Fraser, that she has placed her television tray next to his recliner, that they are clinking glasses with their highball glasses as she catches up with him with the stories about this wild life, beautiful ride,” they wrote.
“She missed him so much.”