Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the gender of President Joe Biden’s child who died in a car accident in 1972. The child was his daughter.
Ethel Kennedy, a well-known human rights advocate and widow of Robert F. Kennedy, passed away on Thursday morning at the age of 96. Her death followed complications from a stroke she had earlier in the week. Ethel was the matriarch of the Kennedy family, one of America’s most prominent political dynasties. Her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, shared the news in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, expressing the family’s grief and love for Ethel, who leaves behind a large family, including nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren.
Born Ethel Skakel, she married Robert F. Kennedy in 1950. Robert went on to serve as the U.S. Attorney General under his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and later became a U.S. Senator from New York. Together, Ethel and Robert had 11 children. Throughout her life, Ethel endured multiple tragedies, including the assassinations of her brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy in 1963, and her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968. She also lost her parents in a plane crash in 1955, and later, her son David to a drug overdose in 1984, her son Michael in a 1997 skiing accident, and her granddaughter Saoirse, who died from an accidental overdose in 2019.
Despite these personal losses, Ethel Kennedy remained dedicated to her family and her humanitarian work. She founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights center in Washington, D.C., and supported various charitable causes, including fighting poverty, advocating for social justice, and promoting environmental conservation. Her efforts also helped clean up the Anacostia River and restore New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. In recognition of her contributions, a bridge crossing the Anacostia River now bears her name.
President Joe Biden described Ethel Kennedy as “an American icon” and praised her resilience, moral courage, and commitment to family and public service. He noted that she turned personal pain into purpose, continuing her late husband’s legacy of civil rights advocacy and working for social justice, all while raising 11 children.