President Obama’s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who won asylum in 2010 after living illegally in Boston for several years, died on Monday night in a nursing home in the city, her legal team said. The law office of Margaret W. Wong, one of Onyango’s immigration lawyers, confirmed on Tuesday that she died the night before in her sleep at the Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation Harborlights facility in South Boston.
Onyango, 61, had taken ill in January and suffered from breast cancer and respiratory problems, Wong and a relative said. Information on funeral arrangements was not available. The White House had no comment on Onyango’s passing. She was a native of Kenya and moved to South Boston in 2000, Wong’s office said. She was the half-sister of Obama’s late father. A receptionist at the South Boston nursing home where Onyango died said on Tuesday that no one was available to speak with the media.
Abel Oriri, a psychologist based in Ohio who said he was a relative, spoke highly of her in a phone interview. “She’s a great human being, and loving and devoted to her kids,” he said. “She loved people, loved life.” Oriri said her children are living in Kenya. Wong’s office said that Onyango was denied asylum in 2004 and nearly deported. Her case was leaked to the press during Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. “Auntie [Onyango] was a fine, tall, elegant woman who was very good with computers,” Wong said in a statement. “After her vilification by the press during the President’s campaign, she fought hard for her legal status. She loved to travel, mostly by train, and enjoyed taking pictures everywhere she went.”