Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, dies at age 86

Marian Robinson, the mother of former First Lady Michelle Obama, has passed away at the age of 86, according to a statement from the Obama and Robinson families.

“She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” the family statement said.

Born in 1937, Robinson grew up on Chicago's South Side as one of seven children. She trained as a teacher and later worked as a secretary. She married Fraser Robinson, and together they had two children, Michelle and Craig Robinson. Fraser passed away in 1991.

Robinson lived her entire life in Chicago until 2009, when she moved to Washington, D.C., to reside in the White House and help care for her granddaughters, who were seven and ten years old at the time. During the Obama presidency, she was a steady presence in the White House, attending holiday events, occasional overseas trips, and concerts in the East Room, but primarily spending time with her granddaughters, Sasha and Malia.

After Obama's second term, Robinson returned to Chicago, where she reconnected with longtime friends, exchanged witty remarks, traveled, and enjoyed a good glass of wine, according to her family.

Recently, on Mother's Day, Michelle Obama honored her mother by announcing that an exhibit at the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago will be named after her.

“In so many ways she fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice, and how to understand my own worth,” the former first lady said in a video announcement. “I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without my mom.”