Russian activist Raisa Maximovna Gorbacheva was Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife and a prominent figure in the Soviet Union. She collected money for initiatives that cure pediatric blood cancer, promote fresh talent, and preserve Russian cultural heritage.

Gorbacheva once went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts with Barbara Bush on June 1, 1990. During the commencement service, both ladies addressed the graduating class and discussed the position of women in contemporary society.

The addresses were broadcast live on all American television networks, while CNN offered cable-TV coverage across the world. Gorbacheva had a small stroke on the last day, but the events of the Soviet Coup of 1991, which sought to remove her husband from office, left a lifelong scar.

She was the oldest of Maxim Andreyevich Titarenko’s three children. He was a railway engineer from Chernihiv, Ukraine, and Alexandra Petrovna Porada was from Veseloyarsk, Siberia.

Raisa Gorbacheva cause of death: What happened to Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife?

She received a leukemia diagnosis from the Institute of Haematology RAMS in July 1999. Under the direction of renowned hematologist Professor Thomas Büchner, she underwent therapy for two months.

Soon after, she and her family traveled to Münster, Germany, where she received treatment at the medical center of the Münster University Hospital. She was brought back to Russia and buried in Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery.

She was 67 when she died.