Ethel Kennedy, a prominent human rights advocate and widow of former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has passed away at the age of 96.
“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our mother, Ethel Kennedy. She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week,” Kerry Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy’s daughter and president of the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights posted in a statement on X. “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.”
“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.”
Ethel Kennedy married Robert F. Kennedy in 1950 and supported him throughout his political career. She campaigned for her brother-in-law John F. Kennedy on his presidential run, then continued on the campaign trail as her husband campaigned for a U.S. Senate seat and later began a presidential campaign.
Together, they had 11 children, including Kathleen, Joseph, and Robert F. Jr. She was by his side when he was assassinated in 1968 after state primary wins on a run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
A millionaire’s daughter who married the future senator and attorney general in 1950, Ethel Kennedy had endured more death by the age of 40, for the whole world to see, than most would in a lifetime.
Her parents were killed in a plane crash in 1955, and her brother died in a 1966 crash. Her son David Kennedy later died of a drug overdose, son Michael Kennedy in a skiing accident and nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash. Another nephew, Michael Skakel, was found guilty of murder in 2002, although a judge in 2013 ordered a new trial and the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated his conviction in 2018.
Even with the many tragedies in her life, she committed herself to helping others. Ethel Kennedy went on to found the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial and Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
In 2012, their daughter Rory Kennedy spoke with GBH about the documentary she directed about her mother’s life “Ethel,” which chronicled Ethel Kennedy’s remarkable journey. She said her mother’s story went untold for decades, despite her accomplishments and the global fame of the family she married into.
“It’s interesting to see this woman or this young girl who grew up with no exposure to politics, no real sense of giving back to society — and then meeting my father, falling in love with him and being pulled into politics working on Jack’s first campaign and just loving it,” Rory Kennedy said.
Even as the subject of a documentary, though, Ethel Kennedy told GBH’s Greater Boston she was “a little uncomfortable” to have her story in the spotlight.
But she thrived, still, as a tireless advocate. Rory Kennedy said about her mother: “It’s kind of in her blood at this point, I think, to stand up to injustice. And she has a knack for it. It comes very naturally to her, it seems.”
The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights’ Board of Directors released a statement honoring their founder.
“She marched with Cesar Chavez, sat with Native Americans at Alcatraz, boycotted fast food businesses with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, demonstrated outside the South African and Chinese embassies, pulled tires out of the Anacostia River, trekked up mountainous terrain in Mexico to visit unjustly convicted prisoners, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge with civil rights leader John Lewis, confronted dictator Daniel arap Moi in Nairobi and raised millions of dollars for human rights work around the globe,” they wrote. “She meant more to us than we can ever express.”
Ethel Kennedy was born Ethel Skakel on April 11, 1928, in Chicago, the sixth of seven children of coal magnate George Skakel and Ann Brannack Skakel, a devout Roman Catholic. She grew up in a 31-room English country manor house in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Greenwich Academy before graduating from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in the Bronx in 1945.
She met Robert Kennedy through his sister Jean, her roommate at Manhattanville College in New York. They moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he finished his last year of law school at the University of Virginia, and then in 1957, they bought Hickory Hill from by John and Jacqueline Kennedy.
Massachusetts officials commemorated her Thursday. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” to learn she had died, calling her “a woman of true grace and grit, a dedicated matriarch, and a supportive friend.”
“She transformed her personal tragedy into a lasting legacy of public service and global leadership,” he wrote. “The country has lost one of our greatest advocates for American exceptionalism, and the world has lost an irreplaceable champion of humanity.”
Gov. Maura Healey also spoke to Kennedy’s legacy at a State House event.
“She was an incredibly inspiring figure and a role model for so many. And so it’s very sad. She had a long an incredibly full life. She accomplished so much, and she will be missed,” Healey told reporters.
“My thoughts are with her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whose work continues on,” the governor added, noting young political figures like Joe Kennedy III, Ethel Kennedy’s grandson. “The work of Ethel Kennedy lives on through her grandchildren.”
Katie Lannan contributed reporting. Michael Casey and Steve LeBlanc from Associated Press contributed material.
