Lacena "Candy" Carson (née Rustin; born August 19, 1953) is an American author and businesswoman. She is married to former

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture ...

and retired

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

Benjamin Carson Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...

and co-founded the Carson Scholars Fund. Alongside her husband, she is the co-author of four books. During her husband's run for the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States, Carson was active on the campaign trail doing TV appearances and solo live campaign appearances.

Early life and education

Born Lacena Rustin on August 19, 1953, in Royal Oak Township, Michigan. 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 research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. Following her graduation from Yale, Carson attended Johns Hopkins Carey Business School where she earned her MBA. A former concert

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

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 Europe ...

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 Rhoeyce, as well as several grandchildren. Until 2013, the couple lived in West Friendship, Maryland 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 is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

. 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.

Portrayal in popular media

Carson was portrayed by

Aunjanue Ellis Aunjanue L. Ellis ( born February 21, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films '' Men of Honor'' (2000), '' The Caveman's Valentine'' (2001), '' Undercover Brother'' (2002), ''Ray'' (2004), '' The Express: The Er ...

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'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

''.

In the news

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 office in late 2017. This was discovered after Helen Foster, a career HUD official, 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.'$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair':HUD staffer files complaint over Ben Carson office redecoration
CNN Retrieved July 9, 2019

Publications

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

* . * . * * . *

References

External links

Candy Carson
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carson, Candy 1953 births 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers American Seventh-day Adventists Christian vegetarianism Christian writers Florida Republicans Johns Hopkins Carey Business School alumni Living people Maryland Republicans Michigan Republicans Seventh-day Adventists from Michigan Writers from Detroit Yale College alumni