Marge 'Simpson' Inspiration Dies: Margaret Groening, Inspiration For 'Simpson' Character, Dead at 94

Margaret Groening, wife of Homer, and mother of Patty, Matt, Mark, Lisa and Maggie, died on March 23 in her Portland, Ore., home, according to an obituary in The Oregonian.

Margaret Groening, the mother of cartoonist and TV producer Matt Groening, has died at the age of 94. As the show creator's real mother, Groening was the inspiration for Marge Simpson on her son's biggest show, "The Simpsons."

Born in 1919 to Matt and Ingeborg Wiggum, Margaret Groening grew up in Washington State before marrying her college boyfriend, Homer Groening, and settling in Oregon to raise a family. Matt Groening famously used the names of his parents -- as well as two of his sisters, Lisa and Maggie -- when creating "The Simpsons."

Some of the basics of the animated characters were said to derive from the real Groening family. Two other siblings, Patty and Mark, were left out of the show's central family in favor of Bart.

Margaret was high school valedictorian, Miss Everett and May Queen of Linfield College. She married Homer "because he made her laugh the most," according to the obituary.

While Homer died in 1996, Margaret is survived by her brother, Arnold, as well as four of her five children, eldest daughter Patty died earlier this year, 8 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. Her obituary ran in the Monday, May 6, issue of The Oregonian.

Strangely enough, Marge Simpson was not Margaret Groening's favorite character on the hugely successful animated series. That honor goes instead to Kwik-E Mart convenience store's own Apu. "I just love his accent," Groening told The Portland Tribune in 2002.