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• Donda West was the mother of rapper Kanye West and co-founder of the Kanye West Foundation. She worked as her son's manager until she passed away on November 11, 2007 after having plastic surgery.

• Fast Facts

  1. Lived: Chicago, Illinois suburb
  2. Died: November 11, 2007
  3. Was a full professor at Chicago State University
  4. Inspired the song "Hey Mama"
  5. Ex husband was a former Black Panther

• Career

  Donda West was a professor in the English Department at Chicago State University until retiring in 2004 to become her son Kanye West's manager. In 2007, she published her memoir entitled Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar, which was distributed by Simon & Schuster. West died at age 58 from coronary artery disease after having plastic surgery.

• Notable Works

  • 2007: Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar

• Raising Kayne Quote

  "I learned my most important lessons not from school -- kindergarten through a doctoral program -- but from my dad and my mom, who learned from their mom and dad, who learned from theirs. We are the sum total of the lives our families lived and the lessons they instilled in us -- both good and bad." — Simon & Schuster

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