Daisy Young; Mother of Atlanta Mayor

ATLANTA — The mother of Mayor Andrew Young, a retired schoolteacher who was the first member of her family to receive a college degree, died of cardiac arrest at 87.

Daisy Fuller Young was pronounced dead at Crawford-Long Hospital Friday at 8:16 p.m. after attempts to resuscitate her failed, hospital officials said.

A funeral will be held Tuesday at Central Congregational Church in New Orleans, the city where she and her late husband raised their two sons.

The mayor, who leaves office Tuesday after serving two terms, said his mother had a mild case of the flu and had complained of indigestion Friday.

A doctor checked on her twice Friday at Young’s southwest Atlanta home, where she had lived since moving to the city in October, 1988. Young said the doctor reported that Mrs. Young’s heart and lungs seemed fine.

“He said we’d better take her to the hospital to let a neurologist look at her, but she didn’t want to go to the hospital,” he said.

Mrs. Young was an elementary school teacher in New Orleans and a graduate of Straight College, which later merged with New Orleans University to form Dillard University.

She was on the board of trustees at Dillard, where a scholarship fund was created in her name and that of her late husband, Andrew Young Sr.

Since moving to Atlanta, Mrs. Young had become chairwoman of a fund-raising drive to build a senior center in southwest Atlanta. Much of her life was devoted to volunteer work.