PARIS - Danielle Mitterrand, a decorated member of the French Resistance and combative advocate for the poor who broke the mold as first lady alongside France's first Socialist president, died Tuesday at age 87.
Mitterrand died before dawn after being hospitalized at Georges Pompidou hospital in Paris in recent days for fatigue, her foundation France Libertes said.
Mitterrand turned the 14-year tenure of her husband, French President Francois Mitterrand, into her own bully pulpit - one that long outlasted him. He died of cancer shortly after leaving office in 1995.
A determined activist, Mitterrand advocated many left-leaning causes, supporting Marxist rebels in El Salvador, ethnic minorities like Kurds and Tibetans, and vociferously opposing capitalist excess.
Mitterrand created several charities and criss-crossed the world in defense of human rights. She reportedly once kissed Cuba's Fidel Castro on the steps of the presidential Elysee Palace.
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Her foundation said Mitterrand found guidance in a phrase of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre: "It's not right to want to heal the suffering of people without committing to fight the very causes of this suffering."
France Libertes, whose focus has been human rights and had recently made a top priority of getting drinking water to those without it around the world, said Mitterrand left behind "a message of hope."
Mitterrand called for worldwide unity among "new Resisters" to "put an end to economic and financial dictatorship, the henchman of political dictators. Finally, they seem to be shaken by the anger of peoples."
Well before the Occupy movement, Mitterrand told Le Figaro newspaper in 1996: "Of course, the world revolves around the Dow Jones, the Nikkei stock index or the CAC 40. ...But all around the world, little voices are being raised to say that man is unhappy even if the stock market is doing well."
She was no novice at defending her convictions. As a young woman, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her work in the Resistance during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
