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Rep. Bobby Rush’s Wife Dies

‘Today I have lost my best friend, the love of my life, my confidant and my best half’

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., has six children, one of whom was killed in 1999. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., has six children, one of whom was killed in 1999. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
By Alex Gangitano
Posted March 13, 2017 at 11:59am

Illinois Democratic Rep. Bobby L. Rush on Monday announced that his wife Carolyn has passed away at 68 of congestive heart failure.

She died in the University of Chicago Hospital and Rush and their children were at her bedside, according to a news release from Rush’s office.

“Today I have lost my best friend, the love of my life, my confidant and my best half. Carolyn I will always love you,” the congressman tweeted.

The 71-year-old congressman and his wife were married for 36 years.  They had seven children, one of whom was killed in his 20s in a shooting. 

“This one of the most difficult days of my life,” Rush said in the statement. “If there is any comfort at all, it is in knowing that Carolyn is no longer suffering and that she has returned to our Father in Heaven. I will always cherish her. She was everything to me. I am devastated.” 

In September 2013, Rush took a leave from Congress because his wife was sick, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Politico later reported that Carolyn Rush had open-heart surgery, as well as other surgeries and health issues, which caused the congressman to spend time away from D.C.

In 1999, the couple’s son, Huey Rich, died at 29 years old after being wounded in a Chicago shooting.

 

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