Michelle Obama’s Mom, Marian Robinson, Dies at 86: ‘We Will All Miss Her’

Mar­i­an Robin­son, the moth­er of for­mer first lady Michelle Oba­ma, died on Fri­day at the age of 86, the fam­i­ly announced in a state­ment. Robin­son was a beloved fig­ure who played a sig­nif­i­cant role dur­ing Barack Oba­ma’s presidency.

“She passed peace­ful­ly this morn­ing, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exact­ly we’ll move on with­out her,” the Oba­ma fam­i­ly said in their state­ment. They cel­e­brat­ed Robin­son’s life, not­ing that “in our sad­ness, we are lift­ed up by the extra­or­di­nary gift of her life.”

Robin­son retired from her job as a bank exec­u­tive sec­re­tary to help care for her grand­daugh­ters Malia and Sasha dur­ing the 2008 pres­i­den­tial cam­paign. She then moved into the White House to pro­vide the girls with a sense of nor­mal­cy, accom­pa­ny­ing them to school and greet­ing them when they returned home.

Though she kept a low pro­file, Robin­son occa­sion­al­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in White House events and made a spe­cial effort to meet Pope Fran­cis dur­ing his 2015 vis­it. The fam­i­ly said Robin­son pre­ferred spend­ing time with her fam­i­ly rather than hob­nob­bing with dignitaries.

After the Oba­mas left the White House, Robin­son returned to her native Chica­go, where she recon­nect­ed with friends, trav­eled, and enjoyed a good glass of wine. The fam­i­ly said they will deeply miss her wis­dom and perspective.