Michelle Obama’s Mother, Marian Robinson, Dies At 86

Marian Robinson, the mother of former US First Lady Michelle Obama, has died at 86.

In a statement, her family said that Robinson had died “peacefully” on Friday morning.

Robinson was a well-known fixture at the White House during the eight years of Barack Obama’s administration between 2009-17.

She spent much of that time taking care of her two granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, daughters to Michelle and Barack Obama.

In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, Mrs Obama called her mother her “rock, always there for whatever I needed”.

“She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today,” she wrote.

In a separate tweet, Mr Obama said that “there was and will be only one Marian Robinson”.

“In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life,” he added. “And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example.”
No further details were given about the cause of death.

Born in 1937, Robinson grew up one of seven children in Chicago, the city where she spent much of her life before agreeing to come to Washington DC after Mr Obama’s electoral victory.
Early in her life, she studied to become a teacher before working as a secretary.

She raised Michelle and her other child, Craig, together with her husband Frasier Robinson on Chicago’s South Side.

“At every step, as our families went down paths none of us could have predicted, she remained our refuge from the storm,” the Obama statement said.
BBC