Former first lady Barbara Bush dies at 92

Barbara Bush.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Former first lady Barbara Bush died Tuesday at her home in Houston, Texas, just days after deciding not to seek any additional medical treatment and focus on comfort care. She was 92.

Bush was in failing health due to congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The wife of former President George H.W. Bush and mother of former President George W. Bush, Bush was active in charitable causes and promoted global literacy projects, forming the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy in 1989. Bush believed in the power of volunteering with the homeless and elderly, at schools, and with AIDS patients; she told The Christian Science Monitor in 1989 that she hoped "people will say, 'She cared. She worked hard for lots of causes.'"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.