The passing of Kitty Dukakis, the spouse of a former governor and presidential candidate, at the age of 88

In Brookline, Massachusetts, Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, has passed away at the age of 88. She was known for being open about her battles with depression and addiction.

Kitty Dukakis passed away on Friday night in the company of her family, as confirmed by her son, John Dukakis. Her family mentioned that she strived to improve the world by sharing her own struggles to help others cope with theirs.

Described as affectionate, spirited, and perceptive, Kitty Dukakis had a remarkable empathy for individuals from all backgrounds. She had a strong and enduring bond with her husband, Michael Dukakis, spanning over six decades filled with love and mutual respect.

Dukakis won high marks as a political campaigner during her husband’s 1988 presidential efforts, stumping tirelessly for him. She was called a key influence in his decision to seek the presidency.

She even figured in the opening question of a 1988 presidential debate, when her husband was asked: “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?” Dukakis said he would not, and his unemotional response was widely criticized.

Earlier in the campaign, in 1987, Dukakis revealed she had overcome a 26-year addiction to amphetamines five years earlier after receiving treatment. She said she began taking diet pills at age 19.

Her husband made anti-drug efforts a major issue and she became prominent in the effort to educate youngsters against the perils of drug and alcohol abuse.

But a few months after Michael Dukakis lost the election to Vice President George H.W. Bush, Kitty Dukakis entered a 60-day treatment program for alcoholism. Several months later she suffered a relapse and was hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.

In her 1990 autobiography, “Now You Know,” she blamed her mother for much of her alcohol and drug addiction and a long history of low self-esteem. In 2006, she wrote another book, “Shock,” which credits the electroconvulsive therapy she began in 2001 for relieving the depression she had suffered for years. The treatment, she wrote, “opened a new reality for me.”

Current Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey called Dukakis “a force for good in public life and behind the scenes,” a leader in the effort to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten, and an advocate for children, women and refugees.

“She spoke courageously about her struggles with substance use disorder and mental health, which serves as an inspiration to us all to break down stigma and seek help,” Healey said in a statement.

Dukakis used her personal pain to help others, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement on social media on Saturday.

“Her legacy will live on in the policies she helped shape and the people she inspired to speak their own truths,” Campbell said.

Dukakis and her future husband met while attending high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. He was dull and frugal; she was dramatic and fancy. He is Greek Orthodox; she was Jewish.

Dukakis, who was divorced and had a 3-year-old son, married Dukakis in 1963, and they had two children, Andrea and Kara.

Dukakis, whose late father, Harry Ellis Dickson, was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, earned degrees in modern dance and broadcasting.

After the presidential election, in 1989, Bush appointed her to be a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

She earlier served on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust in 1979 and on the board of directors of the Refugee Policy Group. She has also been a member of the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

By the late 1990s, Dukakis and her husband divided their time between Massachusetts and California, where she was a social worker and he was a professor for part of the year at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Former Associated Press writer Lisa Flam contributed to this report.