Along with her husband, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusof, they were the first and only couple to both be ministers in the Malaysian cabinet.
The petite-framed freedom fighter, who was the United Malays National Organisation's (UMNO) 315th member, joined the struggle for independence when she was in her 20s.
She saw then that there were inadequate facilities and infrastructure for the people under colonial rule, especially for health care and education.
From an interview in the Malaysian newspaper The Star: ...I was like a kakak to Senu and adik to Khir Johari.
[5]On Hari Merdeka (Independence Day), 31 August 1957, Fatimah traveled with her three eldest children her husband, the late Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusuf, in a car from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Malaya's emergence from British rule.
They stayed at the late Tun Sardon Jubir's house in Kuala Lumpur and the couple took the children around the city.
Her third son, Dato Professor Emeritus Dr Khalid Abdul Kadir was previously the director of Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, and is now the Head of Clinical School at Monash University Malaysia.
[2] Her body was laid to rest at Makam Pahlawan in the Masjid Negara compounds beside her husband, Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusuf's grave.