Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, has passed away at the age of 86, according to a family statement shared by 5 ABC News.
“She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” the statement said.
The statement was issued by Michelle and Barack Obama; Craig Robinson and his wife, Kelly; and Marian Robinson’s grandchildren, Avery, Leslie, Malia, Sasha, Austin, and Aaron.
Robinson became widely known as the nation’s first grandmother when her son-in-law, Barack Obama, won the presidency in 2008.
She was a consistent presence in the White House during his two terms, attending holiday events, occasional trips abroad, and concerts, but mainly she focused on spending time with her granddaughters, Sasha and Malia.
Having spent her entire life in Chicago, Robinson moved to Washington, D.C., in 2009 to live in the White House and help care for her granddaughters, who were then seven and ten years old.
“I felt like this was going to be a very hard life for both of them,” she said in a CBS interview, referring to her daughter and son-in-law. “And I was worried about their safety, and I was worried about my grandkids. That’s what got me to move to D.C.”
In their statement, the family mentioned that she moved from Chicago with “a healthy nudge.”
“We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all,” they said.
“She relished her role as a grandmother. … And although she enforced household rules we set for bedtime, watching TV, or eating candy, she made it clear that she sided with her ‘grandbabies’ in thinking that their parents were too strict,” they added.
Born in Chicago in 1937, Robinson grew up on the South Side, where she raised her daughter and son, Craig. She was married to Fraser Robinson, who died in 1991 from multiple sclerosis.
The former president once described his mother-in-law as “the least pretentious person I know.” Robinson noted in the interview that it was a “huge adjustment” being served by White House staff, whom she eventually convinced to let her do her own laundry.
