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Lacena "Candy" Carson (née Rustin; born August 19, 1953) is an American author and educator. She is married to former
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succession. The ...
and retired
neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...
Ben Carson Ben Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgery, neurosurgeon, academic, author, and government official who served as the 17th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 2017 to 2021. A pio ...
, with whom she co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund in 1994. Alongside her husband, she is the co-author of four books. During his 2016 run for President of the United States, Carson was active on the campaign trail by conducting live interviews and television appearances.


Early life and education

Born Lacena Rustin on August 19, 1953, in
Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...
. Carson was raised in the Episcopal Church by her mother. She graduated from Ferndale High School. Carson met her future husband, also a Detroit native, in the 1970s when both were students at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. Following her graduation from Yale, Carson attended Johns Hopkins Carey Business School where she earned her
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
. A former concert
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist, Carson performed the
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...
during her husband's campaign kick-off. She has been a conductor for the University of Maryland Medical Center Chamber Players.


Career

In the Baltimore area, Carson worked in real estate, trust administration and insurance.


Carson Scholars Fund

In 1994, Carson and her husband started the Carson Scholars Fund, designed to provide scholarships to students in grades 4–11 for "academic excellence and humanitarian qualities". The foundation was started after the Carsons read that U.S. students ranked second to last in terms of math and science testing among 22 countries, feeling that their efforts could assist in encouraging academic efforts as they noted schools award athletes with trophies whereas honor students received only "a pin or certificate". Recipients of the Carson Scholars Fund receive a $1,000 scholarship towards their college education and has awarded upward of 6,700 scholarships. Carson is the facilitator of the scholarship fund.


Personal life

Carson and her husband married in 1975. Together, they have three sons: Murray, Benjamin Jr., and Royceon, as well as several grandchildren. Until 2013, the couple lived in
West Friendship, Maryland West Friendship is a semi-rural Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in western Howard County, Maryland, Howard County, Maryland, United States. West Friendship is located at the junction of Interstate 70 in Maryland, Interstate 70 and ...
, and then relocated to Florida. Both she and her husband are long-time members of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...
. In line with her religious beliefs, Carson is a vegetarian. In 1981 Carson became pregnant with twins before miscarrying in the fifth month of her pregnancy. After this experience, when she became pregnant again in the following year, Carson was placed on bed rest by her doctor after the fourth month. She left her job and took this time to focus on self-care for the remainder of her pregnancy. Carson has co-authored four books with her husband, including ''One Nation'', which made ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list and spent five weeks at #1. Her memoir ''A Doctor in the House: My Life with Ben Carson'' was released at the beginning of 2016.


Books, with Ben Carson

* . * . * * . *


Portrayal in popular media

Carson was portrayed by
Aunjanue Ellis Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor (; Ellis; born February 21, 1969) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe ...
in the TNT made-for-TV movie '' Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story'' (first airdate February 7, 2009), starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. She starred as herself in the 1991 biographical documentary about her husband, ''Gifted Hands''. She was portrayed by Leslie Jones on the Saturday March 10, 2018, episode of ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
''.


Expenditure controversy

Carson received criticism for reportedly pressuring her husband's staff to spend up to $31,000 on a dining set in his
Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...
office in late 2017. This was discovered after Helen Foster, a former HUD chief administrative officer, filed a complaint alleging that she was demoted from her position because she refused to spend more than the legal $5,000 limit for office redecoration. The HUD inspector general found no evidence of undue influence by Mrs. Carson on any staffer. However, the
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
ruled that, in making unauthorized purchases of a dishwasher and furniture for Ben Carson's office, HUD violated the law.


References


External links


Candy Carson
at
IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Candy 1953 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Protestants American Seventh-day Adventists Ben Carson Christian vegetarians Florida Republicans Johns Hopkins Carey Business School alumni Maryland Republicans Michigan Republicans Seventh-day Adventists from Michigan Seventh-day Adventist writers Writers from Detroit Yale College alumni