Israeli president's wife Sonya Peres dies at 88

Died Sonia Peres, the fiercely private, the wife of Israeli President Shimon Peres abductor, Thursday in Tel Aviv - Jerusalem (AFP). He was 88.

He said his brother in law and physician Dr. Raphael Walden, told Israel Radio that he died peacefully in her sleep.

Ukraine-born Sonia Gilman, who immigrated to Israel when he was a child. Peres met in high school and married in 1945. Before her marriage, she was in a military hospital in Cairo to serve as a nurse in the British army.

Two of three children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In the last years of his life, and Ms. Perez quietly volunteered for many organizations in Israel.

Through the testimony of her husband decades ago, and stayed at the insistence of the public eye. Left to become president of the Peres 2007 and moved to Jerusalem, in his apartment in Tel Aviv.

He called on Peres revealed in an interview on his birthday gala last 87 years, his years as president and most of his political life full of joy.

"But on a personal level I am not happy because I really miss Sonia" and said the newspaper Yediot Aharonot. "He was the love of my life and my love to make life".

Peres said that the office after a meeting with French Foreign Minister in Jerusalem heard news of his death, and rushed home to Tel Aviv by.

Perez became president in 2007 before briefly, Sonia briefly hospitalized with heart disease and. But did not know that in recent years, and ill.

It politely, was a symbol of simplicity and love of others, "said Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a statement. Pariah and lights all these years, worked tirelessly to preserve his own life and help the needy. All who knew her admired and appreciated."

He called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Peres expressed his appreciation to offer condolences to Ms. Perez.

His funeral is scheduled on Friday.