Zoe Ceausescu, daughter of late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, died of lung cancer on Tuesday morning. According to people close to the family, she will be cremated as she herself had asked.

Zoe Ceausescu stood away from limelight over the past 16 years, refusing to talk with the media while focusing on recovering the wealth confiscated from her parents Nicolae and Elena, executed in the 1989 revolution.

Zoe Ceausescu has been married with engineer Mircea Opran, a university professor, since 1980.

Zoia Ceausescu - as she was truly named - was born March 2, 1950. She was the second child in the Ceausescu family and had two brothers, Valentin and Nicu. Nicu Ceausescu also died of cirrhosis in 1996.

Zoe Ceausescu and her brothers were arrested during the December 1989 revolution and put under investigation for undermining the national economy. At the time, she could only hear about the short trial of her parents and could see the world-famous film of their execution only in August 1990.

She has never seen the tombs where her parents are said to be buried as she challenged official statements that they were burried in the Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest.