President Obama Absent From Aunt's Funeral

President Obama did not attend the funeral of his aunt Zeituni Onyango in Boston. INSIDE EDITION looks at reports of the president's relationship with some family members.

Was the president really playing golf during his beloved aunt's funeral?

Sixty-one-year-old Zeituni Onyango lived in a rundown apartment building in South Boston and her most treasured possessions were photographs of herself with the president.

But on the day of the funeral, published reports say he was enjoying his regular golf game at Andrews Air Force Base with his buddies.

The president's aunt, who he called 'auntie,' was known as the "spirit of the Obama family."  She spent the last few weeks of her life at a nursing home before dying of cancer. But she didn't get a visit from the nephew she admired so much, the president.  

According to today's front page story in The New York Times, President Obama has "drifted away from kin."

Auntie Zeituni helped the president research his 1995 book Dreams from My Father and she helped look after the president's daughter, Sasha, when she was a baby.

The president's look-a-like half-brother, Mark, who lives in China, flew to Boston for his aunt's wake. He says the president's relationship with his Kenyan family is distant. He told INSIDE EDITION that he rarely speaks with the president.

"He's very cold sometimes," said Mark. "He doesn't express much, in terms of emotion."

Though the president did not attend the funeral, it's being reported that he did help pay his aunt's funeral expenses and sent a condolence note to the family.