Edwards died at his home in North Carolina after a long battle with cancer, his family said.
Her breast cancer was diagnosed the day after the 2004 election, he returned in 2007. John Edwards, former North Carolina senator who was the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2004 and ran for the Democratic nomination in 2008, said that cancer was "no longer curable but completely treatable."
The family issued a statement Monday saying that further treatment would be unproductive. She told People magazine in June that the cancer had spread to tumors in the skull, spine and legs.
"Many others have turned inward;. Many others in the face of adversity and have given up, but through what she went through, Elizabeth found a kind of strength and grace that will long remain a source of inspiration, "said President Barack Obama in a statement Tuesday.
Elizabeth Edwards was a successful lawyer who became a national figure as a political partner of her husband and book author who chronicled his cancer and the grief over the death in 1996 the son of 16 years of age of the couple, Wade, in a single car accident.
But his life became tabloid fodder for Edwards's candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The National Enquirer reported she had an affair with Rielle Hunter, who had been hired as a cameraman for the campaign, and had a son with her.
John Edwards, initially denied any involvement and continued his quest for the nomination.
He admitted the affair in 2008 after leaving off the presidential race, but admitted being the father of the child until January 2010. This month, Elizabeth Edwards announced that she was separating from her husband.
"As I do not want cancer to take over my life, I do not want this indiscretion, regardless of duration, to take charge of my life either," he wrote in his 2009 book Resilience: Reflections on the charges Front and Gifts of life's adversities. "
"But I have to deal with both, I have to find peace with both."
She was born Mary Elizabeth Anania on July 3, 1949, in Jacksonville, Fla. Her father, Vicente, was a Navy pilot. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Thweatt, was the daughter of a Navy pilot and had been married to another Navy pilot who died when his plane was lost in the Pacific.
"My life is measured by which the air of the season, what city, what country he lived in. And the cast of characters has changed with every movement," writes Edwards in his 2006 book "Saving Graces:. Find comfort and strength of friends and strangers "In addition to Florida, Edwards spent part of his childhood in Washington, DC, Virginia and Japan.
She began college at what was then the University of Virginia School for women, Mary Washington College, but transferred to the University of North Carolina in 1969 when his father was assigned to an ROTC unit there. He graduated with a degree in English in 1971. In the UNC Law School, she met John Edwards.
"In many ways, John and I were different," he wrote in "Save Thanks." "I had traveled the world, had never left the South ... But we had each moved from one place to another, following the jobs of our parents had each lived in company housing - the military bases for me, the people of the mill of John ... None of us had the opportunity to have their roots in a place so rooted in family and faith, the things we carry with us. "
They married in 1977, just days after taking the bar exam. His son Wade was born in 1979, his daughter Catherine in 1982.
races of the couple changed radically after the death of his son in 1996. John Edwards ran for the Senate in 1998, defeating incumbent Sen. Lauch Faircloth in North Carolina.
Elizabeth Edwards became a close adviser to her husband, a role that escalated when John Edwards became the vice presidential nominee and a presidential candidate. He also became the mother of young children, with daughter Emma Claire was born in 1998 and his son Jack in 2000.
"I try to put my point of view and to view that John is there, if he leaves the room to take a phone call or something and I'm still here," said the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2004. "I feel like I was his replacement. I know where it comes from, I know what matters, so they can express that."
Was praised for his straight, feet on the ground, which contrasted with her husband brighter image.
"I leave real life," he told The New York Times in 2004. "Because I'm 55, I spent 20 years in PTA meetings and soccer practices, all kind of things that mothers do not regular, and I think people feel comfortable enough with me, which is great. "
This positive image was intensified after the diagnosis of breast cancer in 2004.
In "Saving Graces," wrote about continuing the campaign in late October 2004, despite finding a lump in her breast "lump lump or cancer, or not, had to keep talking to as many people as possible, the debate should debate the issue and do what I could for these people, and most importantly, John had to do the same, "he wrote. "The rest would take over after the election."
The Democratic ticket of John Kerry and Edwards lost to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
He underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. After the cancer returned, Edwards continued his campaign for the Democratic nomination. He retired from the race in January 2008, unable to overtake Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the primaries. His political career implode after the affair with Hunter was made public.
Elizabeth Edwards was ill-treated in "The Statesman", a book of 2010 by former top campaign aide Andrew Young, who initially claimed he was the father of Hunter's son to protect Edwards. Young painted as controlling and vindictive.
In a June interview on "Today" show, Edwards said he had been struck by how his political role was perceived. And we discuss the separation of Edwards.
"I think it was fair that I finally realized I had only gone so far along that road ... I was not going to find a place, and I hate talking about myself in third person, but Elizabeth was more, "he said. "I wanted to be present in the rest of my life."
In addition to her husband and children, Edwards survivors include a brother and a sister.
0 comments:
Post a Comment