HYANNIS PORT, USA – Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy and a resilient figure who endured profound personal tragedy while dedicating her life to preserving the legacy of one of America’s foremost political families, died on October 10. She was 96.
Her death was announced by her grandson Joe Kennedy III, a former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts and the current U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland.
In a post on X, Kennedy stated that his grandmother passed away due to complications from a stroke suffered last week. He did not specify the location of her death.
It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy. She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week. Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind…
— Joe Kennedy III (@joekennedy) October 10, 2024
Mrs. Kennedy, who was the mother of 11 children, was a steadying presence within the Kennedy family and became a key figure after the assassination of her husband in 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy, who had served as U.S. attorney general and as a senator from New York, was fatally shot while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in Los Angeles.
At the time, Mrs. Kennedy was three months pregnant with their youngest child.
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A Legacy of Strength and Public Service
Throughout her life, Ethel Kennedy championed the ideals of public service and social justice that her husband had embodied.
She founded Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a nonprofit organisation focused on human rights initiatives, which remains active today. Following her husband’s death, Mrs. Kennedy made it her mission to raise their children in line with the values Robert had lived by.
“I will bring up the children the way he would have wanted,” Mrs. Kennedy told Time magazine in 1969. “They’ve been given so much; they must try to give that again.”
Her devotion to her family and their public service legacy earned her national admiration.
In 1969, a Gallup poll named her “America’s most admired woman,” and her influence as a moral compass in the family persisted for decades.
AP
A Life of Personal and Public Loss
Ethel Skakel was born in Chicago on April 11, 1928, into a wealthy Catholic family.
Ethel Kennedy’s parents, coal magnate George Skakel and Ann Brannack Skakel, were tragically killed in a plane crash in 1955.
Ethel Kennedy met her future husband, Robert F. Kennedy, in 1945 at a ski resort in Quebec, where he was initially dating her older sister, Patricia Skakel.
According to an official biography from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, this meeting marked the beginning of a relationship that would lead to one of the most well-known political partnerships in U.S. history.
Five years later, in 1950, “Bobby and Ethel” were married. Their first child, Kathleen, was born on July 4, 1951, beginning their large family of 11 children.
The couple moved to Washington, D.C., where they became a prominent fixture in the city’s political and social circles.
Tragedy struck the Kennedy family repeatedly. In 1963, Mrs. Kennedy’s brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas.
Five years later, Robert Kennedy was killed after winning the California primary. Mrs. Kennedy also experienced the loss of two sons: David Kennedy, who died of a drug overdose in 1984, and Michael Kennedy, who died in a skiing accident in 1997.
Despite the immense personal grief, Mrs Kennedy remained active in her advocacy work and symbolised resilience.
In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to civil rights and humanitarian causes.
Ethel Kennedy is survived by nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren. She will be remembered for her unwavering dedication to her family and her tireless efforts to advance the causes of human rights and public service.
