Only the second woman ever to see both her husband and son sworn in as US president, the Bush family reveals Barbara Bush passed away in the early hours of Wednesday after battling a heart illness for a long time.
Barbara Bush, the former US first lady and literacy campaigner, has died at the age of 92. Her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, was by her side throughout this painful process, according to a family statement that described him as “broken-hearted.”
Bush’s two most prominent sons, the former president George W Bush and the former Florida governor Jeb Bush, paid tribute to their mother in separate heartfelt statements after the news of her death broke.
Relatives said she died of complications from congestive heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. It was recently announced that Mrs Bush had declined further medical treatment after a series of hospital visits, but the statement did not reveal the nature of her ailments. She said she wanted to spend her last days in “comfort care” with her family.
As the first lady, Mrs Bush went beyond the traditional role of a political wife, founding the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy to help parents and children from disadvantaged communities to read and write.
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