Joan Mondale dies at age 83

Posted: 02/03/2014 12:01:00 AM CST

Updated: 02/03/2014 05:42:16 PM CST

Arts advocate and former Second Lady of the United States Joan Adams Mondale died Monday at age 83.

The wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, she was a tireless promoter of public art, a poised campaigner for her husband and an active supporter of Twin Cities cultural organizations. A spokesman for the family said Mondale died surrounded by her husband, two sons and other family in hospice care.

'We are grateful for the expressions of love and support we have received,' Walter Mondale said in a statement. 'Joan was greatly loved by many. We will miss her dearly.'

Mondale was born in Eugene, Ore., the daughter of a Presbyterian minister who eventually became chaplain at St. Paul's Macalester College.

She graduated from Macalester in 1952 with a major in history and minors in arts and French.

She married Mondale in 1955, 53 days after they met on a blind date arranged by her sister. They had three children. The couple entered politics in 1960, when Walter Mondale became the Minnesota attorney general and Joan was elected the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair of Ward 7 in Minneapolis.

They moved to Washington, DC, when Walter Mondale was tapped to fill the Senate seat of Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Joan took an active part in her husband's senate and vice presidential campaigns.

She was given a grand platform to promote the arts when her husband was elected Jimmy Carter's vice president in 1976. Carter named her honorary chairwoman of the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities, and in that role she frequently traveled to museums, theaters and artist studios on the administration's behalf. She lobbied Congress and states to boost public arts programs and funding.

Her enthusiasm for the cause earned widespread praise in the arts community, including from Jim Melchert, director of the visual arts program for the National Endowment for the Arts during Carter's administration.

'Your rare fire has brightened many a day for more people than you may imagine,' Melchert wrote to her after the 1980 Carter-Mondale re-election defeat. 'What you've done with style and seeming ease will continue illuminating our world for a long time to come.'

She maintained a key role when Walter Mondale unsuccessfully ran for president in 1984.

She remained active on the arts advocacy scene when the couple returned to Minnesota and during a three-year stint in Japan, where her husband served as ambassador in the early 1990s. After their return to the Twin Cities, she served on the boards of a variety of arts and civic organizations, including the Walker Art Center, the Minnesota Orchestra and others. An amateur potter, she was also a supporter and board member of her alma mater, Macalester.

In 2011, Mondale lost her daughter, Eleanor, WCCO radio personality and actress, after a long battle with brain cancer.

A service will be held Saturday at Westminster Presbyterian Church.