ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — Victoria Levin, the wife of U.S. Rep. Sander Levin and an advocate for research on children's mental health issues, died Thursday, the congressman's office said. She was 74.

Vicki Levin had struggled for several months with breast cancer and died peacefully early Thursday morning surrounded by her family, Levin's office said.

She was married to the congressman for more than 50 years and served as his close political adviser. Before Levin was elected to Congress in 1982, she worked full-time on her husband's gubernatorial campaigns in 1970 and 1974.

In a statement, the congressman's family called the Levin marriage a "half-century partnership that served as a very public model of love, shared public service and progressive advocacy for so many people in Michigan and Washington, D.C."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the congressman's younger brother, credited his sister-in-law for her ability to "nurture and help keep steady her large and active family, while excelling at her own independent professional career."

Vicki Levin worked for nearly three decades as a science research officer for several agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her interest in children with mental health challenges prompted her husband to lead an effort to rewrite Michigan's special education laws while he served as a state senator.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Levin was survived by four children, Jennifer Levin Pensler, of Chevy Chase, Md.; Andrew Levin, of Bloomfield Township, Mich.; Madeleine Levin, of Silver Spring, Md.; and Matt Levin, of Montpelier, Vt., and eight grandchildren.

Services for Levin will be held Sunday at the Ira Kaufman Chapel in Southfield.