Washington, Nov 1: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's mother Dorothy Howell Rodham died here today at the age of 92, the family said in a statement. She was surrounded by her family members at the time of her death shortly after midnight.
Her death came a day after the State Department said Clinton had cancelled a scheduled trip to Britain and Turkey because her mother was ill. Her illness was not disclosed. Rodham made trips with the Clintons during their years in the White House, including a 2000 visit to India and a 1998 trip to China.
“Her story was a quintessentially American one, largely because she wrote it herself,” the statement said.
“She 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,” it said.
To honour Rodham, her family will hold a private celebration of her life for family and friends. She was born in Chicago on June 4, 1919.
In lieu of flowers and in line with what Rodham would have wanted, the family have asked that anyone who would want to do so would make a donation in her memory to George Washington Hospital where she received treatment; to the Heifer Project, her Christmas gift of choice in 2010 and an organisation dear to her heart; or to a local organization meaningful to the giver that helps neglected and mistreated children, the statement added.
