Report: Kanye's Mom Passes Away

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Report: Kanye's Mom Passes Away

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 update:

[q
url="http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1573999/20071111/west_kanye.jhtml"]Donda
West, the mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State
University's English department, passed away Saturday, according to a
spokesman for the family. She was 58.

According to multiple sources, West was in Los Angeles and her death
may have been the result of complications from a surgical procedure;
Patricia Green, Dr. West's publicist, told CNN on Monday (November 12)
that the surgery was cosmetic but did not provide further details.

Although widely known as the mother of Kanye, Dr. West was a noted
scholar and an active college professor for 31 years; she left the
profession in 2004 to assist with Kanye's career, according to her
biography on the Web site of the Kanye West Foundation, an educational
nonprofit of which she was chair. She was also chief executive of West
Brands, the parent company of her son's businesses.

She began her teaching career in the early 1970s at Brown College in
Atlanta and began working at Chicago State University in 1980,
according to the site; she was also a Fulbright Scholar, among other
awards. Dr. West raised Kanye in the Chicago area along with her
husband, from whom she separated when Kanye was 3.

She also recently published a book dedicated to her son titled
"Raising Kanye: Life Lessons From the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star." The
book and subsequent interviews have left little question about the
source of Kanye's outspoken nature.

The importance and influence Dr. West had in her son's life is
profound. When Kanye appeared on MTV News' "You Hear It First" in 2003,
one of his first rhymes was about his mother — he dropped to his knees
during the performance to get his point across. Those rhymes later
turned up in a full-blown dedication to her, Late Registration's "Hey
Mama."[/q]