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Marian Robinson, the mother of former first lady Michelle Obama who moved into the White House and became a well-known Washington figure, has died. She was 86.
The family confirmed the death of Robinson, who had moved back to Chicago when President Barack Obama left office, in a statement Friday. The cause cause was not specified.
“She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” said the statement, which was written by the former president and signed by the rest of the family.
Robinson moved into the White House when Obama became president in 2009 and became known as the “first grandma.” She took care of the couple’s children, Malia and Sasha, dropping them off at school because the family didn’t want them to be accompanied only by Secret Service agents.
“With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack,” the president wrote. “We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all. She relished her role as a grandmother to Malia and Sasha.”
Robinson grew up one of seven children and lived in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood for most of her life where she studied to become a teacher before working as a secretary. She married Fraser Robinson and raised two children, Craig and Michelle. Fraser died in 1991.
Michelle was close to Robinson and earlier this month the former first lady honored her mother in a Mother’s Day post, saying “I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without her.”
“My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed,” Michelle said in a post on X Friday. “She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today.”
Robinson resumed a quiet life in Chicago. In the statement posted Friday, the family said: “She was beloved beyond words by countless others whose lives were improved by her presence.”
“What is also true — although she adamantly denied it — is that there was and will be only one Marian Robinson,” the statement said. “In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life. And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example.”
