OBITUARY
Rosalynn Carter, former first lady, dies aged 96
Unconventional US first lady and prominent mental health campaigner whose marriage to Jimmy Carter lasted for 77 years
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter during his first term as president; she was one of his closest advisers and sat in on cabinet meetings
UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/ UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES
Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady, has died aged 96 at home in Georgia surrounded by family members.
Her husband of 77 years, the former president Jimmy Carter, called her “an extension of myself” due to her prominent role in his administration from 1976 to 1980.
She was described as “a passionate champion of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights” by the Carter Center, the charity set up by her husband in 1982 to advance human rights and alleviate suffering.
Rosalynn Carter was America’s first lady in the late 1970s, and the most politically active holder of that title since Eleanor Roosevelt. Before, during and after her White House years, she campaigned tirelessly for mental health and other worthy causes; but hers is above all