Rosalynn Carter, wife of former US President Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 96.
According to the Carter Center, Rosalynn died peacefully with her family by her side.
On Friday, she entered a hospice care home in the state of
Georgia, and was spending time with her husband Jimmy, who has been in hospice care since February.
Mrs Carter was diagnosed with dementia in May.
When her husband began his political career in the 1960s – first as Georgia state senator, governor, and later US president – Mrs Carter was focused on raising mental health awareness and reducing the stigma attached to people with mental illnesses.
As first lady of Georgia she was a member of a governor’s commission to improve services for the mentally ill, and as US First Lady she became honorary chair of the President’s Commission on Mental Health, which was key to the passage of a 1980 act that helped fund local mental health centres.
The longest-married first couple marked their 77th wedding anniversary in July.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” said Mr Carter in the statement.
They received recognition for their humanitarian work in 2002 when Mr Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
US President Joe Biden paid tribute to Mrs Carter, saying she “walked her own path, inspiring a nation and the world along the way”.
Mrs Carter was born Eleanor Rosalynn Smith on 18 August 1927.
She married Jimmy Carter on 7 July 1946 and they had four children.
She is also survived by 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, after losing a grandson in 2015.
