Mary Elizabeth Anania Edwards (July 3, 1949 – December 7, 2010) was an American attorney, author, and health care activist.

She was his chief policy advisor during his presidential bid,[1] and was instrumental in pushing him towards more liberal stances on subjects such as universal health care.

[1] In the final years of her life, Edwards publicly dealt with her husband's admission of an extramarital affair and her breast cancer, writing two books and making numerous media appearances.

She wrote in her book Saving Graces that one of the difficult relocations that she went through was moving during her senior year of high school.

[9] She also wrote about the stress of living on a military base and seeing a constant stream of wounded soldiers while her father was away fighting in Vietnam.

After three years of postgraduate studies in English, she entered UNC's School of Law and earned a Juris Doctor.

In 1981, she and her husband moved their family to Raleigh, where she worked in the Office of the Attorney General and at the law firm Merriman Nicholls and Crampton.

[16] In September 2006, Random House published her first book, Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers,[3] which focused on the ways different communities have helped her through the trials of her life, from her itinerant military childhood to the death of her son and her early bout with breast cancer.

In May 2009, Random House published her second book, Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities,[4] in which she discussed the return of her illness, the deaths of her father and son and the effect of those events on her marriage, her husband's infidelity, and the state of healthcare in America.

"[19] On June 10, 2008, it was revealed that Edwards would be advising her husband's former rival and eventual Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, on healthcare issues.

Edwards became a senior fellow at the American Progress Action Fund and testified before Congress about healthcare reform on its behalf.

Wade died at age 16 on April 4, 1996, when he lost control of his Jeep and crashed while driving from their home in Raleigh to the family's beach house near Wilmington.

[24] Three weeks before his death, Wade had been honored by First Lady Hillary Clinton at the White House as one of ten finalists in an essay contest sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Voice of America.

It means there are more medications to which I can expect to be responsive," she told the Associated Press during a campaign stop with her husband in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

She posted her last message on Facebook: You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope.

But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious.

[39] Her funeral, held at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, was open to the public and was attended by over 1,200 people, including North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue, Senators John Kerry and Kay Hagan,[40] and Victoria Reggie Kennedy.