Nanuli Shevardnadze ( ) née Tsagareishvili ( ცაგარეიშვილი ) ( 9 March 1929 – 20 October 2004 ) was a Soviet and Georgian journalist and activist . Nanuli 's father Razhden Tsagareishvili was purged during Joseph Stalin 's rule , while her mother died of tuberculosis , leaving Nanuli and her two siblings orphaned . In 1951 she married Eduard Shevardnadze , who would become Soviet Foreign Minister ( 1985 – 1991 ) and leader of post-Soviet Georgia ( 1992 – 2003 ) . Shevardnadze , then a Komsomol activist , met her in the last years of Stalin 's life , ignoring warning that it would be fatal to his career to marry a woman whose father was executed as an " enemy of the people " . Even Nanuli initially rejected Shevardnadze 's marriage proposal , fearing her background would ruin his career , but he did not back down
purged
Great Purge
Nanuli Shevardnadze