CHARLOTTE, NC – SEPTEMBER 06: First lady Michelle Obama (L) applauds with her mother Marian Robinson (R) during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 6, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The DNC,
Condolences, tributes and well-wishes are pouring in for the Obama family after the breaking news of the death of former first lady Michelle Obama‘s mother.
Michelle Obama
“My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed. She was the same steady backstop for our entire family,” Michelle wrote on X as she shared the link to a longer tribute written by herself, former President Barack Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha and several other family members.
“Marian Lois Shields Robinson — our mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother — had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think. Her wisdom came off as almost innate, as something she was born with, but in reality it was hard-earned, fashioned by her deep understanding that the world’s roughest edges could always be sanded down with a little grace.
“Know what’s truly precious.
“Don’t worry about whether anybody else likes you. Come home. We’ll always like you here.
“As a young woman, she studied to become a teacher before working as a secretary. She fell quickly and madly in love with Fraser Robinson, another South-Sider with a boxer’s strength and jazz-lover’s cool. Together, they raised two children, Craig and Michelle, in a tiny upstairs apartment on Euclid Avenue in South Shore.
“When Craig decided to leave a lucrative finance job to pursue his dream of coaching basketball, she was there with her wholehearted support. When Michelle married a guy crazy enough to go into politics, she was just as encouraging. 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 trappings and glamour of the White House were never a great fit for Marian Robinson. “Just show me how to work the washing machine and I’m good,” she’d say. Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument. The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope. Over those eight years, she made great friends with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home. She’d often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at CVS, and sometimes another customer might recognize her. ‘You look like Michelle’s mother,’ they’d say. She’d smile and reply, ‘Oh, I get that a lot.’
“After the White House, she returned to Chicago, reconnecting with longtime friends, trading wise-cracks, traveling, and enjoying a good glass of wine. She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
“We knew Mrs. Marian Robinson as a devoted mother and grandmother with a fierce and unconditional love of her family. With the blessing of friendship, we felt that love ourselves – with every quiet smile or warm embrace she shared with us.
“The entire Biden family sends its deepest love to Michelle, Craig, Barack, Kelly, and the six irrepressible grandchildren whom she helped to raise and so loved, and in whom her kind and gentle spirit lives on.
Marian Robinson, First Lady Michelle Obama’s mother, reads a book during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 13, 2009. More than 30,000 guests will attend this year’s events, which i
Dr. Bernice A. King
— Bernice
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center
“Our hearts go out to the Robinson/Obama family as we all mourn the loss of Marian Robinson. Mother Robinson was a remarkable woman who embodied strength, grace, and resilience. She was a true warrior, a source of inspiration for us all.
“Rest in power, #MarianRobinson“
Magic Johnson
Billie Jean King
“I had the privilege of spending some one-on-one time with her at the U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Kids Day in 2013.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan
Rep. Dr. Robin Kelly, Chicago, IL
@BarackObama, ‘There was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted by the extraordinary gift of her life.’
