Elizabeth Edwards

Elizabeth Edwards
Edwards in Reno, Nevada, July 14, 2007
Born	Mary Elizabeth Anania (1949-07-03)July 3, 1949 Jacksonville, Florida
Died	December 7, 2010(2010-12-07) (aged 61) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Cause of death	Metastatic breast cancer
Nationality	American
Occupation	Attorney
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	John Edwards (m. 1977–2010; her death)
Children	Wade (1979–1996) Cate (born 1982) Emma Claire (born 1998) Jack (born 2000)

Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards (July 3, 1949 – December 7, 2010) was an American attorney, a best-selling author and a health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina who was the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

Edwards lived a private life until her husband's rise as senator and ultimately unsuccessful vice presidential and presidential campaigns. She was his chief policy advisor during his presidential bid, and was instrumental in pushing him towards more liberal stances on subjects such as universal health care. She was also an advocate of gay marriage and was against the war in Iraq, both topics about which she and her husband disagreed.

In the final years of her life, Edwards publicly dealt with her husband's admission of an extramarital affair and her breast cancer, writing two books and making numerous media appearances. She separated from John Edwards in early 2010. On December 6, 2010, her family announced that her cancer had spread and her doctors had recommended that further treatment would be unproductive. She died the following day.

Mary Elizabeth Anania was the daughter of Mary Elizabeth Thweatt Anania (1923 – 2012) and Vincent Anania (1920 – 2008). She grew up in a military family, moving many times and never having a hometown. Her father, a United States Navy pilot, was transferred from military base to military base during her childhood and adolescence; for part of her childhood, she lived in Japan, where her father was stationed. She relates in her book Saving Graces that one of the difficult relocations that she went through was moving during her senior year of high school. Some of her childhood friends' fathers were killed in war and Edwards relates childhood memories of attending their funerals. She also relates the stress of living at a military base with hospital facilities that handled a constant stream of wounded soldiers while her father was away fighting in Vietnam.