Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former president Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 96.
According to the statement from the Carter Center, the wife of the 39th president of the United States of America, passed on, Sunday morning, November 19, 2023, at her home in Plains, Georgia.
During her life time, Rosalynn Carter was a tireless advocate of mental health care. She fervently supported her husband of 77 years during and after his presidency in making the world a better place. Compassionate and loving, the former president has this to say of his most trusted adviser and life partner:
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Jimmy Carter said in a statement from the Carter Center. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Throughout Jimmy Carter’s career in politics, Rosalynn Carter was his most fervent supporter. She campaigned aggressively for him, energizing supporters and once admitted being more adamant about winning than her husband.
After her husband was elected president in 1976, Carter transformed the role of first lady into a full-time job.
She was the first presidential spouse to set up an office in the East Wing and hire a full staff. Many recalled Rosalynn Carter carrying a brief case filled with papers to the office every day.
Carter traveled the world, promoting her own platform of improving mental health care and her husband’s position on human rights. She lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment which granted legal gender equality to women and men.
Former colleagues, friends and observers described Carter as genuine, warm and selfless. Throughout much of her life, she epitomized the modern working mom and wife.
Brower said Carter cared more about helping people than materialistic things.
“I think she will be remembered as a strong, tough, disciplined woman who also is very kind and had a lot of empathy for other people,” Brower said.
Carter, 96, entered hospice care Friday after it was revealed she was diagnosed with dementia in May.
