Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s Mother, Dies at 86

Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother and an anchor of the Obama family who moved into the White House and provided stability for her two granddaughters as the young family adjusted to Washington, died on Friday. She was 86.

Her death was announced in a statement by Mrs. Obama, former President Barack Obama and other members of the family. Hannah Hankins, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obama, said that Mrs. Robinson died on Friday in Chicago, the city where she was born, but did not give a cause of death. Ms. Hankins said that funeral services were being arranged.

Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Ms. Robinson was known as a loving, down-to-earth matriarch who became an emotional ballast for her daughter and granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, but also for Mr. Obama, who had rocketed to political superstardom and whose family, at times, had to scramble to keep up.

When Mr. Obama became the first Black man to win the presidency in November 2008, he sat and watched the returns alongside his mother-in-law. Their hands were clutched together as they watched their family’s future change alongside the course of American history.

But Mrs. Robinson stayed much the same. “Just show me how to work the washing machine and I’m good,” she said after moving to the White House, the Obamas said in their statement on Friday.

According to the family statement, which was signed by Mrs. Obama, Mr. Obama, her brother Craig Robinson, his wife Kelly and their children, Mrs. Robinson was never fully comfortable with the trappings of the White House, and much preferred to take her dinner on a TV tray in her third-floor suite in the White House residence. (“The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope,” the family said.) Mrs. Robinson’s survivors include Mr. and Mrs. Obama, Craig and Kelly Robinson, and six grandchildren. Her husband, Fraser Robinson III, died in 1991.