The Gorbachevs were together for more than 45 years, until her death
(Picture: PA)Tributes have been pouring in for Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, who died aged 91, on Tuesday, August 30, after a long illness. His death was announced by multiple Russian news agencies, citing officials at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.
Some made reference to the timing of his death being during the worst period of relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
Mikhail Gorbachev had a wife named Raisa Gorbacheva. She was a Soviet and Russian activist who passed away on September 20, 1999. Here is everything we know about her life.
Who was Raisa Gorbacheva?
Raisa Gorbacheva was born Raisa Maximovna Titarenko in the city of Rubtsovsk, in the Altai region of Siberia. She was the eldest of three children.
Her father was Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko, a railway engineer originally from Chernihiv in Ukraine. Her mother, Alexandra Petrovna Porada, was Siberian and originally from Veseloyarsk.
Gorbacheva spent her childhood in the Ural Mountains, and met Mikhail while studying philosophy in Moscow. She earned an advanced degree at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, and taught briefly at Moscow State University. In September 1953, she married Mikhail Gorbachev and moved to his home region of Stavropol in southern Russia after graduating.
Raisa gave birth to their daughter on January 6, 1957, Irina Mikhailovna.
What was Raisa Gorbacheva’s career?
Raisa Gorbacheva taught Marxist–Leninist philosophy and defended her sociology research thesis about kolkhoz life. When her husband returned to Moscow as a rising Soviet Communist Party official, Raisa became a lecturer at her alma mater, Moscow State University.
She left the role when her husband became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985. Gorbacheva made various public appearances beside Mikhail, which helped humanise the country’s image. She was one of the few wives of a communist party leader to have a high public profile of her own.
On June 1, 1990, Gorbacheva accompanied U.S. first lady Barbara Bush to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. They both spoke before the graduating class, referencing the role of women in modern society.
American television networks covered the addresses live, and there was TV coverage around the world, too. In 1991, after a Soviet coup attempted to depose her husband, Gorbacheva suffered a minor stroke and was unable to speak for a few days. This led to the Gorbachevs steering further and further away from the limelight.
In 1997, she went on to establish the Raisa Maksimovna’s Club, aimed at galvanising the participation of women in politics. She also raised awareness of children’s issues (she had frequently welcomed youth delegations to the Kremlin when her husband could not be present).
How and when did Raisa Gorbacheva die?
In July 1999, Gorbacheva was diagnosed with leukemia. At the Münster University Hospital, in Germany, she received treatment for two months under the supervision of Professor Thomas Büchner, a leading haematologist. However, she ultimately died on September 20, aged 67.
In 2006, her family founded the Raisa Gorbacheva Foundation, which raises money to support those with childhood cancer.
In 2007, the Raisa Gorbacheva Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Transplantology, a division of the First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, was opened.
