Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady of the United States and wife of former President Jimmy Carter, has died.
Carter died in her Georgia home at the age of 96.
The Carter Center, the couple’s non-profit organization, confirmed this in a statement on Sunday.
“Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a passionate champion of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights, passed away Sunday, Nov. 19, at 2:10 p.m. at her home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96. She died peacefully, with family by her side,” the Carter Center said.
During her husband’s presidency, the former US First Lady remained politically involved, but she stated that she had no intention of becoming a traditional first lady.
The former US First Lady supported her husband‘s public initiatives as well as his social and personal life during his presidency. She attended Cabinet sessions at the president’s request in order to stay fully informed.
She also acted as her husband’s representative in talks with domestic and foreign officials, notably as an envoy to Latin America in 1977. He saw her as an equal partner. In the 1980 election, she campaigned for his re-election, which he lost to Republican Ronald Reagan.
She continued to campaign for mental health and other causes after leaving the White House in 1981, and he wrote several books.
Her and her husband helped expand the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.
The former US First Lady was the second-longest-serving first lady, after Bess Truman, and the longest-married. In 1999, she and her husband were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
