Ethel Kennedy: Kennedy family matriarch dies, aged 96

Human rights activist Ethel Kennedy, who was the widow of assassinated senator Robert Kennedy, has died.

The 96-year-old died from "complications related to a stroke" suffered last week, according to her family.

In a statement, they said: "It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy.

"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."

The Kennedy matriarch's most known child is perhaps former US presidential candidate turned Donald Trump supporter Robert Kennedy Jr.

The statement announcing her death was shared by her grandson Joe Kennedy III on social media, who said she had enjoyed a "great summer and transition into fall" surrounded by family, before suffering a stroke in her sleep on 3 October.

Ms Kennedy founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights soon after her husband's death in 1968 and advocated causes including gun control and human rights.

'One wonders how much this family must be expected to absorb'

The daughter of a millionaire, she married the future senator and attorney general Robert F. Kenndy in 1950.

However, by the age of 40, Ms Kennedy had endured more death and tragedy than most would in a lifetime.

Ms Kennedy had been by her husband's side when he was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on 5 June 1968, after he won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

Her brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier.

Her parents died in a plane crash in 1955 and her brother in a crash in 1966.

Her son, David Kennedy, later died of a drug overdose and another son, Michael Kennedy, in a skiing accident as well as 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.

In 2019, she was grieving again after granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill died of an apparent drug overdose.

"One wonders how much this family must be expected to absorb," family friend Philip Johnson, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, told the Boston Herald after Michael Kennedy's death.

Ms Kennedy sustained herself through her Catholic faith.

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In 2008, she joined two other family members in endorsing senator Barack Obama for president, likening him to her late husband.

She made several trips to the White House during the Obama years, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.

A number of her children became well known, but perhaps none as much as Robert F Kennedy Jr - who was not a liberal in the family tradition.

First an environmental lawyer, he was later criticised by his family for backing Trump and has come under fire for unevidenced claims he's made about COVID vaccines, school shootings, and more.

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