Doris Meyer Morell

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Doris Meyer Morell, the mother of former California Gov. Gray Davis who actively campaigned for her son during several key elections, has died. She was 83.

Morell died Sunday at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Florida of complications from lung cancer, Davis told The Associated Press Monday. He said he was with his mother when she died.

"My mother was a remarkable woman, very strong but with a big heart," Davis said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. "She was the source of much of my inspiration, much of my motivation."

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Morell was attending Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y. when she married her first husband, Joseph G. Davis. The pair had five children and lived in Los Angeles from 1955 to 1963, when they divorced and she returned to her home state.

Morell later remarried Armand M. Morell, and worked with him in his furniture business, first in New York, then in Florida when they moved there.

She often returned to California to campaign for her first born son, Gray, whenever he ran for political office.

She was also by his side during the 2003 recall election, which he lost to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.


Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press