Sarah Obama, matriarch of Obama family branch in Kenya, has died. She was at least 99

Nairobi, Kenya — Sarah Obama, the matriarch of former President Obama's Kenyan family has died, relatives and officials confirmed Monday. She was at least 99 years old.

Mama Sarah, as Mr. Obama's step-grandmother was fondly called, promoted education for girls and orphans in her rural Kogelo village. She passed away around 4 a.m. local time while being treated at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital in Kisumu, Kenya's third-largest city, according to her daughter, Marsat Onyango. "She died this morning. We are devastated," Onyango told The Associated Press on a phone call.