Anne Francis (Hazard) Richardson, 69, the wife of former U.S. Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson, died of complications of Alzheimer's disease Monday at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly.

She was the wife of Mr. Richardson while he held various offices and it was a role she relished.

"I can accomplish a lot more as Mrs. Elliot Richardson than I could as Ms. Anne Richardson," she said in an interview in the Boston Globe in 1974.

She used her celebrity to shine to help various charities and was chairwoman of Reading Is Fundamental, the national literacy advocacy group, from 1981 to 1996.

Pub Date: 7/28/99