Margaret Papandreou, the American-born feminist campaigner and former first lady of Greece, passed away on September 18, 2026, at the age of 102. Over the course of her life, she played a significant role in advancing women’s rights in Greece, alongside her husband, Andreas Papandreou, the socialist prime minister credited with restoring democracy following a period of military dictatorship.

Born on September 30, 1923, Margaret's early career included work in public relations in the United States, where she first met Andreas Papandreou. The couple married in 1951 and later moved to Greece, where Andreas’s political legacy was already established through his father, George Papandreou, a former prime minister. After the 1967 military coup led by Colonel Georgios Papadopoulos, Andreas was imprisoned, and Margaret campaigned actively for his release, even acting as an intermediary for a foiled jailbreak plan. The family fled Greece in 1967 following Andreas’s release and lived in exile in Stockholm and Toronto until the fall of the regime in 1974.

Upon their return, the Papandreous founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), Greece’s first socialist government, with Andreas elected prime minister in 1981. Margaret became a prominent figure in her own right, founding the Greek Women’s Union (EGE) in 1976, a socialist feminist group that played a pivotal role in promoting women’s rights. She championed significant legal reforms that reshaped family law in Greece, including legalising abortion and civil marriage, eliminating dowries, and establishing equality between spouses regarding divorce and family roles. These reforms challenged longstanding conservative and religious norms in a country strongly influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Margaret’s feminist activism drew on international movements she encountered during exile in Canada and introduced these ideas at a time when feminism faced skepticism and opposition in Greece, particularly in more traditional rural areas. Despite initial suspicion fueled by her American background and the lingering national resentment toward U.S. policies during Greece’s dictatorship years, her advocacy gradually gained broader acceptance as Greek women experienced tangible improvements in their rights.

Throughout the 1980s, Margaret wielded her influence as an unofficial ambassador in the United States, promoting Greek-American involvement in Greece's development and seeking to bolster military aid amid tensions with Turkey over Cyprus. However, her efforts were often complicated by Washington’s wariness of Andreas’s socialist policies and Greece’s initially hostile posture toward NATO.

Margaret served as president of the Greek Women’s Union for eight years, overseeing its growth from 20 to 30,000 members. She maintained the organization’s independence, occasionally clashing with Pasok officials on issues such as abortion legalization. In 1989, she stepped down from her leadership role following Pasok’s electoral setbacks but continued to campaign on broader social issues including poverty, violence, environmental protection, children’s rights, political refugee support, and nuclear disarmament.

Margaret’s later years were marked by personal challenges, including her husband’s infidelity and subsequent marriage to another woman shortly before his death in 1996. She publicly addressed the impact of these events in her 2015 memoir, revealing her own later-life relationship with a French Nato official.

Survived by her four children—including George Papandreou, who served as prime minister during Greece’s debt crisis, and Nikos Papandreou, a current Pasok Member of the European Parliament—Margaret Papandreou leaves behind a legacy as a transformative figure in Greek social and political life, particularly in advancing women’s rights and equality.