Kanye West’s Mother Dies

Allie @ Gone Hollywood | Monday, November 12, 2007

Donda West, the mother and onetime manager of rapper Kanye West, died Saturday in Los Angeles.

Her publicist, Patricia Green, told BBC News she passed away “as the result of complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure,” but gave no more details. West’s spokesman said the family “asks for privacy during this time of grief.”

West, 58, a retired professor and former chairwoman of the Chicago State University English department, was a tireless supporter of her son as he both earned success and stirred up controversy.

“Kanye likes to think as a hobby and speak his own mind. He was always like that,” Donda West told InStyle earlier this year. “He came out of the womb looking like he had that attitude.”