WASHINGTON – Marian Shields Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama, who moved with the first family into the White House when her son-in-law Barack Obama was elected president, has died. She was 86 years old.
Mrs. Robinson’s death was announced by Michelle Obama and other family members in a statement that said “there has been and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are uplifted by her extraordinary gift of life.”
She was a widow and a lifelong resident of Chicago when she moved into the executive mansion in 2009 to help care for her granddaughters Malia and Sasha. At age 70, Robinson initially resisted the idea of starting over in Washington, and Michelle Obama had to recruit her brother, Craig, to help convince her mother to move.
“There were many good and valid reasons that Michelle raised with me, not the least of which was the opportunity to continue to spend time with my granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, and help give them a sense of normalcy that is a priority for both of us. from his parents, as has been the case since Barack began his political career,” Ms. Robinson wrote in the foreword to “A Game of Character,” a memoir by her son, a former men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University.
“However, my feeling was that I could make periodic visits without actually moving and still be there for the girls,” she said.
Mrs. Robinson wrote that her son understood why she wanted to stay in Chicago, but still used a line of reasoning that she often used with him and his sister. He asked her to see the move as a chance to grow and try something new. As a compromise, she agreed to move out, at least temporarily.
Granddaughters Malia and Sasha were just 10 and 7, respectively, when the White House became their home in 2009. In Chicago, Ms. Robinson became almost a surrogate mother to the girls during the 2008 presidential campaign. retired from her job as a bank secretary to help transport them.
At the White House, Mrs. Robinson provided a reassuring presence for the girls as their parents adjusted to their new roles, and her lack of Secret Service protection made it possible for her to accompany them to and from school daily without fanfare. .
“I would not be who I am today without the steady hand and unconditional love of my mother, Marian Shields Robinson,” Michelle Obama wrote in her 2018 memoir, “Becoming.” “She has always been my rock, allowing me the freedom to be who I am without ever allowing my feet to leave the ground too much. Her boundless love for my girls and her willingness to put our needs before hers gave me the comfort and confidence to venture out into the world knowing they were safe and loved at home.”
Ms. Robinson has given some interviews to the media, but never to the White House press corps. Aides protected her privacy, and as a result she enjoyed a level of anonymity openly envied by the president and first lady. This allowed her to come and go from the White House as often as she wanted on shopping trips around town, to the president’s box at the Kennedy Center, and on trips to Las Vegas or to visit her other grandchildren in Portland, Oregon.
She has attended some White House events, including concerts, the annual Easter Egg Roll and the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, and some state dinners.
Residence at the White House also opened up the world to Mrs. Robinson, who had been a widow for nearly 20 years when she moved into a room on the third floor of the White House, one floor above the first family. She had never traveled outside the US until moving to Washington.
His first flight out of the country was aboard Air Force One in 2009, when the Obamas visited France. She joined the Obamas on a trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana later that year, during which she met Pope Benedict XVI, visited Rome’s ancient Colosseum and visited a former slave complex on the African coast. She also accompanied her daughter and granddaughters on two trips abroad without the president: to South Africa and Botswana in 2011, and to China in 2014.
Craig Robinson wrote in the memoir that he and his parents doubted his sister’s relationship with Barack Obama would last, although Fraser Robinson III and his wife thought the young lawyer was a worthy suitor for their daughter, also a lawyer. Without explanation, Craig Robinson said his mother gave the relationship six months.
Barack and Michelle Obama were married on October 3, 1992.
One of seven children, Marian Lois Shields Robinson was born in Chicago on July 30, 1937. She attended two years of teaching college, married in 1960, and, as a homemaker, stressed the importance of education for her children. Both were educated at Ivy League schools, each earning a bachelor’s degree from Princeton. Michelle Obama also has a law degree from Harvard.
Fraser Robinson was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department and suffered from multiple sclerosis. He died in 1991.
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