Kennedy family matriarch Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday of complications from a stroke. She was 96.
“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy,” said her grandson and former Congressman Joe Kennedy III.
“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 family said in a post on social media, also shared by Ethel Kennedy’s daughter, Kerry Kennedy.
Joe Kennedy III said his grandmother died from complications of a stroke suffered earlier this week.
“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 was by her husband Robert F. Kennedy’s side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, just after winning the Democratic presidential primary in California.
Her brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier.
The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which she founded later in 1968, is dedicated to advancing human rights through litigation, advocacy, education and inspiration. The nonprofit also gives annual awards to journalists, authors and others who have made a significant contribution to human rights. She also was active in the Coalition of Gun Control, Special Olympics and the Earth Conservation Corps.
She remained socially active into her 90s, participating in a 2016 demonstration in support of higher pay for farmworkers in Florida and a 2018 hunger strike against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. She divided her time between homes in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and Palm Beach, Florida.
— Herald wire services contributed to this report