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Ethel Kennedy, RFK widow, dies at 96 after stroke



Ethel Kennedy, a human rights advocate and the widow of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday following a stroke she suffered last week.

Her grandson, the former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, shared the news Thursday on X, saying she died due to complications from a stroke she suffered in her sleep early Thursday.

“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy,” her grandson wrote. “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 continued: “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.”

The matriarch of one of the most well-known political families in America had eleven children, born from 1951 to 1968. Her youngest was born six months after her husband was killed.

She was by Robert Kennedy’s side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, shortly after the senator from New York 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.

Following her husband’s death, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization to carry on his “legacy and forge ahead with the unfinished work―all in pursuit of the dream of a more just and peaceful world,” according to its website.

Ethel went on to work across several other human rights organizations, including the Coalition of Gun Control, which earned her the Congressional Medal of Freedom in 2014.

“You don’t mess with Ethel,’’ President Obama said at the time. He added that her “love of family is matched only by her devotion to her nation.”

With News Wire Services

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