Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy and a fierce human rights advocate, has died after struggling a stroke, a member of the family confirmed to CBS Information. She was 96 years previous.
She suffered a stroke in her sleep on Oct. 3, her grandson Joe Kennedy III posted on social media earlier this week. He described his “unimaginable grandmother” as a “robust lady who has led a remarkably fulfilling life.”
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In a publish Thursday, he wrote, “It’s with our hearts full of affection that we announce the passing of our superb grandmother, Ethel Kennedy. She died this morning from problems associated to a stroke suffered final week. Together with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mom leaves behind 9 youngsters, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, together with quite a few nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly.”
A matriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty, Ethel Kennedy gave delivery to her eleventh little one, Rory, six months after her husband was assassinated in 1968 as he celebrated his victory in California’s pivotal Democratic presidential major.
Within the months between her husband’s dying and the delivery of her youngest little one, she based the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights basis in October 1968. The group celebrates her husband’s and others’ dedication to human rights and public service by supporting packages for rights advocates all over the world.
“For greater than half a century, my mother has been a champion for justice, standing with human rights defenders across the globe,” her daughter Kerry wrote on Fb on April 11, her mom’s 96 birthday.
Ethel Skakel Kennedy was born in Chicago in 1928 and grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her father constructed a profitable coal enterprise, making the household rich. She was simply 17 years previous when she met her future husband, Bobby Kennedy, who was courting her sister Patricia on the time, based on the JFK Library web site.
Ethel and Bobby married on June 17, 1950, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenwich. Enthusiastic about public service, the couple campaigned for Bobby’s brother, John F. Kennedy, in his 1960 run for the presidency. Bobby Kennedy served as lawyer basic in his brother’s administration.
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After JFK’s assassination in 1963, she continued to help Bobby as he pursued his political profession. He was a number one contender for the White Home when he was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan on the Ambassador Resort in Los Angeles in June 1968.
After her husband’s dying, along with her work on the human rights middle, Ethel Kennedy co-chaired the Coalition of Gun Management and was concerned with many different human rights organizations.
President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony on the White Home in 2014, the place she was praised for her perseverance and generosity.
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“She’s gone to extraordinary lengths to construct help for causes near her coronary heart,” Obama mentioned on the ceremony.
The household weathered further tragedies over time, together with the deaths of two of her youngsters — David, who died of a drug overdose in 1984, and Michael, killed in a snowboarding accident in 1997. In 1999, her daughter Rory’s marriage ceremony was marred by tragedy when her nephew, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his spouse, Carolyn, died in a airplane crash en path to the Cape Cod marriage ceremony.
Ethel Kennedy is survived by 9 of her youngsters and a big prolonged household, lots of whom are additionally concerned in public life. Her son Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ran for president in 2024, dropping out in August to help former President Donald Trump.
