Mattie Cummings, the mother of D.C. Council member and former mayor Marion Barry has died at a nursing home in Memphis, Tenn. She was 92.

Barry announced in a statement that his mother had died Sunday.

Cummings was born in 1917 Mississippi and was a sharecropper before moving with her children to Memphis in the 1940s.

When Barry rose to political prominence, she was by his side. Her support was steadfast even at Barry's worst moments when he was forced out of office in 1991 after being convicted of drug possession. She was by his side again as Barry was re-elected mayor in 1994.

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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com