U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is mourning the death of her mother, Dorothy Rodham, who passed away yesterday at the age of 92.
Mrs. Rodham died at a Washington hospital shortly after midnight, surrounded by her family. She was frequently seen by her daughter’s side as Hillary sought to become the first female President of the United States in 2008. So it was only fitting when Mrs. Clinton cancelled a previously scheduled foreign policy trip to London and Istanbul to be by her mother’s side in her final hours.
The Clinton family issued a statement, hailing Mrs. Rodham as a woman who “overcame abandonment and hardship as a young girl to become the remarkable woman she was — a warm, generous and strong woman; an intellectual; a woman who told a great joke and always got the joke; an extraordinary friend and, most of all, a loving wife, mother and grandmother.”
President Obama praised Mrs. Rodham as a “remarkable person” who also was “strong, determined and gifted.” He added: “For her to have been able to live the life that she did and to see her daughter succeed at the pinnacle of public service in this country I’m sure was deeply satisfying to her. My thoughts, Michelle’s thoughts, the entire White House’s thoughts go out to the entire Clinton family. I know that she will be remembered as somebody who helped make a difference in this country and this world.”
