Former Gov's Mom Dies

The mother of former Gov. Bill Richardson died in Mexico today, according to identical posts on Richardson’s website and Facebook page.

“Maria Luisa Lopez Collada, 97, passed away peacefully today in Cuernavaca, Mexico,” the message said. “She was surrounded by family, including her son, Gov. Bill Richardson and his wife, Barbara Richardson; and her daughter Dr. Vesta Richardson.”

No further details were available Monday night.

Lopez Collada was a native of Mexico. She was the secretary of Richardson’s father, William Blaine Richardson, an American banker in Mexico City, before she married him. She traveled to Pasadena, Calif. to give birth to her son in 1947 so he would be an American citizen. The former governor spent his first 13 years in Mexico before going to a boarding school in Massachusetts.

Her husband, Richardson’s father, died in 1972.