Stanley Dunham was the maternal grandfather of Barack Obama. He died at the age of 74 in 1992. His widow, Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham died on November 3, 2008, one day before the 2008 presidential election.Washington Post: Obama's Grandmother Dies (November 3, 2008)

Obama wrote about his grandfather, whom he called "Gramps," in his book Dreams from My Father.Chicago Sun-times: Stanley Armour Dunham: Obama Family Tree (September 9, 2007)

"His was an American character, one typical of men of his generation, men who embraced the notion of freedom and individualism and the open road without always knowing its price, and whose enthusiasms could as easily lead to the cowardice of McCarthyism as to the heroics of World War II. Men who were both dangerous and promising precisely because of their fundamental innocence; men prone, in the end, to disappointment."The Swamp: Is Obama's Problem Really...—Barack Obama, Dreams of My Father