Marian Robinson, mother of former First Lady Michelle Obama, passed away on Friday at the age of 86.
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Former President Barack Obama and Michelle announced the news on social media. “She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” the family announced in a statement.
“My mom Marian Robinson was my 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. We wanted to offer some reflections on her remarkable life,” the grieving daughter wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The former First Family’s statement on Medium recalled the life, accomplishments, and enduring wisdom of the beloved White House fixture. Long before Robinson was President Obama’s mother-in-law, she was born and raised on the segregated South Side of Chicago with six siblings. She fell in love with and married Fraser Robinson.
The couple raised their children, Craig and Michelle, in a smaller apartment in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. Robinson worked many years as a secretary. However, she studied education and became her children’s first teacher, ensuring they learned to read at an early age.
She encouraged her children to reach for their wildest dreams, including Craig’s basketball coaching career, Michelle’s Ivy League aspirations to become a lawyer, and her son-in-law’s long-shot political ambitions.
“At every step, as our families went down paths none of us could have predicted, she remained our refuge from the storm, keeping our feet on solid ground. On Election Night in 2008, when the news broke that Barack would soon shoulder the weight of the world, she was there, holding his hand,” the statement said.
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After the 2008 election, Robinson was the new First Family’s “rock.” She uprooted her life to move into the White House as a support system. Aside from meeting the Pope, she cared more about spoiling her grandchildren and befriending the staff than the parade of VIPs. Since then, she has returned home to her friends and family in Chicago.
Signed by Michelle, Craig, Barack, Kelly, Avery, Leslie, Malia, Sasha, Austin, and Aaron, the touching tribute continued:
“As a mother, she was our backstop, a calm and nonjudgmental witness to our triumphs and stumbles. She was always, always there, welcoming us back home no matter how far we had journeyed, with that deep and abiding love.
For Barack and Kelly, she was the best mother-in-law anyone could hope for. We would tease her sometimes that she’d need to stop thinking that she was “imposing” on us because we always wanted to see more of her, not less.
As a grandmother, at every stage of their lives, from infancy through adulthood, she stood secondary watch over her grandchildren’s growth and development, inspiring them, listening to them, telling them she was proud of them, making them feel loved, like they were remarkable in every way.
And as a sister, aunt, cousin, neighbor, and friend to so many, she was beloved beyond words by countless others whose lives were improved by her presence.
We will all miss her greatly, and we wish she were here to offer us some perspective, to mend our heavy hearts with a laugh and a dose of her wisdom.
Yet we are comforted by the understanding that she has returned to the embrace of her loving Fraser, that she’s pulled up her TV tray next to his recliner, that they’re clinking their highball glasses as she’s catching him up with the stories about this wild, beautiful ride. She’s missed him so.
“The whole world is full of little Craigs and little Michelles,” she’d often remind us, underlining the beauty and potential within every child.
As always, she was right. What is also true — although she adamantly denied it — is that there was and will be only one Marian Robinson. 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.”
Our condolences go out to the family and loved ones of Marian Lois Shields Robinson.
