Ethel Kennedy dies from complications after recent stroke, family announces

BACK AT HER LIFE AND HER LEGACY. ETHEL SKAKEL KENNEDY MARRIED INTO AMERICAN ROYALTY, AND FROM THAT POINT ON HAD A FRONT ROW SEAT TO HISTORY. SHE MET BOBBY KENNEDY WHEN SHE WAS JUST 17. A CLOSE FRIEND AND ROOMMATE OF BOBBY’S SISTER, JEANNE. IN 1950, SHE MARRIED ROBERT KENNEDY AND WENT ON TO HAVE 11 CHILDREN. A ROWDY BUNCH THAT TURNED THEIR MASSIVE 13 BEDROOM VIRGINIA MANSION CALLED HICKORY HILL INTO THE KENNEDYS VERSION OF GRAND CENTRAL STATION. ETHEL WAS THE RINGMASTER. HER LIFE CHANGED FOREVER WITH AN ASSASSIN’S BULLET IN APRIL OF 1968. SHE VOWED THEN THAT SHE WOULD NEVER MARRY AGAIN, AND SHE DID NOT. HE WAS AN INSPIRING FIGURE, CERTAINLY FOR ME, HE WAS MY HERO. THIS WAS THE MOMENT WHEN BOBBY’S YOUNGEST BROTHER STEPPED FORWARD EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS NEEDED A FATHER, AND WE GAINED ONE THROUGH UNCLE TEDDY. SADLY, RFK’S MURDER WASN’T THE LAST TRAGEDY IN ETHEL KENNEDY’S LIFE. TWO OF HER 11 CHILDREN PASSED BEFORE HER. IN 1984, SON DAVID DIED OF A DRUG OVERDOSE, AND 13 YEARS LATER, MICHAEL DIED IN A SKIING ACCIDENT ON NEW YEAR’S EVE. BUT MANY OF HER CHILDREN FOUND GREAT SUCCESS. KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND SERVED AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND. JOE KENNEDY, THE SECOND, WAS ELECTED TO CONGRESS AND FOUNDED A NONPROFIT TO HELP WITH HEATING OIL ASSISTANCE IN RECENT YEARS, MRS. KENNEDY RARELY ATTRACTED THE SPOTLIGHT. IN AUGUST OF 2009, SHE MOURNED THE DEATH OF HER BROTHER IN LAW, TED KENNEDY, ALONGSIDE HIS WIFE VICKI AND HER LIFELONG FRIEND JEANNE BAGNI SAUGUS. ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF JFK’S ASSASSINATION, SHE VISITED THE ETERNAL FLAME AT ARLINGTON CEMETERY WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA. A SITE WHERE HER HUSBAND, ROBERT IS ALSO BURIED IN 2014, SHE WAS AWARDED THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, HONORED FOR CARRYING ON HER FAMILY’S LEGACY OF SERVICE, SOMETHING ETHEL SKAKEL KENNEDY EMBODIED FOR ALL THE YEARS OF HER LONG LIFE. ETHEL KENNEDY’S GRANDSON, JOE KENNEDY THE THIRD, MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON X MOMENTS AGO, WRITING IN PART, QUOTE, 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 NINE CHILDREN, 34 GRANDCHILDREN AND 24 GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, ALONG WITH NUMEROUS NIECES AND NEPHEWS, ALL OF WHOM LOVE HER DEARLY. WE WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THIS STORY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. ON AIR AND ONLINE. FOR NO

Ethel Kennedy dies from complications after recent stroke, family announces

Updated: 11:54 AM EDT Oct 10, 2024

Ethel Skakel Kennedy, the human rights advocate and widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday morning, her grandson said.She was 96 years old. Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III announced on social media that his grandmother died of complications following a stroke suffered one week ago.”Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly,” he wrote.Ethel Kennedy met Bobby Kennedy when she was just 17, as a close friend and roommate of Bobby’s sister, Jean. The couple married in 1950 and went on to have 11 children.Her life changed forever with an assassin’s bullet in June 1968. She vowed then she would never marry again and she never did.”She was a devout Catholic and a daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie,” her grandson wrote. “Please keep her in your hearts and prayers.” Related video below: Remembering those we’ve lost in 2024RFK was buried with his brother, President John F. Kennedy, at Arlington Cemetery. Ethel Kennedy visited the eternal flame there in 2013 with then-President Barack Obama, 50 years after JFK was assassinated.Funeral arrangements for Ethel Kennedy were not immediately announced.

BARNSTABLE, Mass. —

Ethel Skakel Kennedy, the human rights advocate and widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday morning, her grandson said.

She was 96 years old.

Related video above: Remembering those we’ve lost in 2024

Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III announced on social media that his grandmother died of complications following a stroke suffered one week ago.

“Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly,” he wrote.

Ethel Kennedy met Bobby Kennedy when she was just 17, as a close friend and roommate of Bobby’s sister, Jean. The couple married in 1950 and went on to have 11 children.

Her life changed forever with an assassin’s bullet in June 1968. She vowed then she would never marry again and she never did.

Jonathan Leibson

“She was a devout Catholic and a daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie,” her grandson wrote. “Please keep her in your hearts and prayers.”

RFK was buried with his brother, President John F. Kennedy, at Arlington Cemetery. Ethel Kennedy visited the eternal flame there in 2013 with then-President Barack Obama, 50 years after JFK was assassinated.

Funeral arrangements for Ethel Kennedy were not immediately announced.