Marian Robinson, the mother of the former US first lady Michelle Obama, passed away on Friday at the age of 86, her family announced on social media.
“She passed away peacefully this morning, and, right now, none of us know exactly how we will be able to move forward without her,” reads a note from the Obamas posted on the Medium website.
Robinson relocated to the White House between 2009 and 2017 to assist in raising his youngest granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, and to provide “unconditional support” to the Obama family.
“The Pope was the only visitor she requested to see. In those eight years, she became friends with the ushers and butlers—the people who made the White House a house,” her family writes in the letter.
Described as a straightforward, discreet woman committed to her loved ones, Robinson’s two children, Michelle and Craig, along with their separate partners and their children, sign the statement.
Secretary Robinson was born on the south side of Chicago in 1937. She wed local official Craig Robinson, with whom she lived until his multiple sclerosis-related death in 1991.
