Marian Shields Robinson

Marian Lois Robinson ( Shields; July 30, 1937 – May 31, 2024) was the mother of Michelle Obama, former first lady of the United States, and Craig Robinson, a basketball executive. She was the mother-in-law of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. She worked as a secretary and executive assistant before and after raising her children with her husband, Fraser Robinson, in Chicago. In retirement, she moved to the White House during her son-in-law's presidency, where she helped raise her grandchildren.

Ancestry and early life Marian Shields was born in Chicago on July 30, 1937, the fourth of seven siblings; five sisters, followed by two brothers, born to Purnell Nathaniel Shields, a house painter and carpenter, and his wife Rebecca Jumper, Both parents had multi-racial ancestry. Her father's grandfather, Dolphus T. Shields (c. 1860–1950), was a descendant of slavery, with his mother a slave and his white father the heir of the slaveowner; Marian Shields's own formal education ended with attending two years of teachers college in Chicago, and she stressed the importance of education to her children. They had two children together, Craig Malcolm and Michelle LaVaughn, named after Fraser's mother.

Death

Robinson died in Chicago on May 31, 2024, at the age of 86. In a joint statement, Michelle and Barack said that she "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" and that "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." In addition to family and others, First Lady Jill Biden, who had known Robinson, attended Robinson's memorial service at the South Shore Cultural Center, where Barack Obama gave the eulogy.

Relationship with Michelle Obama Michelle described her mother as forthright and honest, and spoke of her implacability and her silent support as a child and beyond. She had to be persuaded to leave her home in Chicago but ultimately agreed to come on a "temporary basis". Although she participated in several public events, and took her first trips outside the United States during the White House years, she was able to keep a low profile, and move comparatively freely around Washington practically unnoticed, much to the envy of her daughter.