Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis who failed his presidential bid in 1988, died Friday, her family announced. According to reports, complications from dementia led to the death of the 88-year-old. Dukakis was Massachutte’s first lady from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. Dukakis battled addiction and depression which she mentioned in her memoir. She acknowledged she struggled with alcoholism after her husband’s loss in the presidential election.
In March 1987, Michael Dukakis launched his presidential campaign in Boston, securing the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention in Atlanta the following summer. Despite his efforts, he lost the election to then-Vice President George HW Bush.
Kitty Dukakis championed several key causes, such as women’s rights, human rights, and environmental protection. She played a pivotal role in establishing the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, having been tapped by President Jimmy Carter for the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. Additionally, she contributed her expertise to the boards of the Refugee Policy Group and Refugees International, as noted in her biography on Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy website.
Locally, she made an impact as director of the Program on Public Space Partnerships from 1985 to 1989, a collaborative initiative between Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and its Graduate School of Design.
