Ann Romney

Ann Lois Romney (née Davies; born April 16, 1949) is an American author and philanthropist. She is married to politician and businessman Mitt Romney and was First Lady of Massachusetts during her husband's tenure as governor of that state. Davies was born in Detroit and raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she attended the private Kingswood School. After converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1966, Davies attended Brigham Young University (BYU). She married Mitt Romney in 1969 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French in 1975. As First Lady of Massachusetts, Romney served as the governor's liaison for federal faith-based initiatives. She was involved in a number of children's charities, including Operation Kids. Later, she was an active participant in her husband's U.S. presidential campaigns in 2008 and in 2012. Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. She has credited a mixture of mainstream and alternative treatments with giving her a lifestyle mostly without limitations, and has said that equestrianism has helped her maintain her health. Romney has received recognition in dressage as an adult amateur at the national level and has competed professionally in Grand Prix as well. In 2014, she opened the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston; the Center performs intersectional research regarding multiple sclerosis and several other brain diseases.