Sarah Obama, step-grandmother of former President Barack Obama, dead at 99

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sarah Obama, former President Barack Obama’s step-grandmother, has died at age 99 in Kenya, her family said.

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According to The Associated Press, the matriarch, also known as Mama Sarah, died about 4 a.m. local time Monday at a hospital in Kisumu. Sheik Musa Ismail, a family spokesman, said she had been “sick with normal diseases” and tested negative for COVID-19, the news agency reported.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta offered condolences in a statement Monday.

“The passing away of Mama Sarah is a big blow to our nation,” the statement read. “We’ve lost a strong, virtuous woman. A matriarch who held together the Obama family and was an icon of family values.”

He added that Sarah Obama, who worked to promote education for orphans in Kogelo, “was a loving and celebrated philanthropist who graciously shared the little she had with the less fortunate in her community.”

Sarah Obama was the stepmother of Barack Obama Sr., the former U.S. president’s father, the AP reported.

President Obama, who called Sarah Obama “Granny,” is aware of the death and offered condolences, according to the news agency.

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– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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