Brazilian former first lady Ruth Cardoso dies

The wife of Brazil's former president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, died at their Sao Paulo home on Tuesday, after being released from a hospital where she had been treated for chest pains, Brazilian TV reported.

Ruth Cardoso, 77, an anthropology professor and author, helped found the Communidade Solidaria which brings Brazil's government together with entrepreneurs and private groups to fight poverty in a country marked by great inequality.

Cardoso, who suffered from angina, was hospitalized in Sao Paulo late last week but released on Monday after doctors concluded she did not require surgery.

She was a popular figure in Latin America's largest country, where her husband served two consecutive terms as president from 1995-2003.

"It's difficult to believe that the determined intellectual whom I met many decades ago, with firm convictions, noble gestures and at the same time sensitivity for the drama of social inequality, has left us," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a statement.Her husband's political party, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, confirmed her death and cancelled a planned celebration of its 20-year existence.