'GMA' co-host's mom dies

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted: September 02, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) - Lucimarian Roberts, the mother of "Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts, has died a day after the anchor announced she was taking a medical leave for a bon- marrow transplant.

Roberts, 88, died in Gulfport, Miss., on Thursday night, Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News, said Friday.

The announcement of the death also was made on "GMA" on Friday morning.

"Robin arrived home with her sister, Sally-Ann, forging through flooded and blocked roads to be with her beloved mother in time to see her," GMA Senior Executive Tom Cibrowski said in an email to the entire news division Thursday evening.

The Mississippi area was dealing with flooding from the effects of Hurricane Isaac.

Over the years, Lucimarian Roberts made numerous appearances on "GMA."

She was a Gulf Coast icon for more than four decades. She often was the first black woman to work with organizations and state and local agencies, and she became known for her ability to get things done.

She was the first black to serve as chairman of the Mississippi State Board of Education in the 1980s.

She also had a great passion for poetry and music.

The death came on the same day Roberts said goodbye to her co-workers and audience before starting her medical leave. Sally-Ann, a morning anchor at WWL-TV in New Orleans, is donating the marrow to her sister.

Robin Roberts' departure had been set for Friday. But in a last-minute change of plans, she told her viewers she was leaving a day early to visit her ailing mother.

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