Ethel Kennedy, social activist and wife of Robert F Kennedy, has died age 96.
Ethel, who raised the couple's 11 children after the senator was assassinated in 1968, and remained dedicated to social causes and the family's legacy, died from complications related to a recent stroke.
"It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother," her grandson Joe Kennedy III posted on X.
"She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week."
"Along with a lifetime's work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren and 24 great-great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly," the family statement said.
US President Joe Biden called her an "American icon — a matriarch of optimism and moral courage, an emblem of resilience and service".
"For over 50 years, Ethel travelled, marched, boycotted, and stood up for human rights around the world with her signature iron will and grace," Biden said.
Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights soon after her husband's death and advocated for causes including gun control and human rights.
She rarely spoke about her husband's assassination.
When her filmmaker daughter Rory brought it up in the 2012 HBO documentary, "Ethel," she couldn't share her grief.
"When we lost Daddy …" she began, then teared up and asked that her youngest daughter "talk about something else".
The tragedies of the Kennedy family
Sister-in-law of former president John F Kennedy, the Kennedy matriarch endured more loss in her life by the age of 40 than most people would experience in a lifetime.
She was by 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 California's Democratic presidential primary.
Her brother-in-law had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier.
Her parents were killed in a plane crash in 1955, and her brother died in a 1966 crash.
Her son David Kennedy overdosed, son Michael Kennedy died in a skiing accident and nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash.
Another nephew, Michael Skakel, was found guilty of murder before the Connecticut Supreme Court ultimately vacated his conviction.
And in 2019, her granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill died of an apparent overdose.
In 2020, her granddaughter Maeve Kennedy McKean and her great-grandson son Gideon drowned in a canoeing accident.
Ethel's mother-in-law, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, initially wondered how she would handle so much tragedy.
"I knew how difficult it was going to be for her to raise that big family without the guiding role and influence that Bobby would have provided," Rose recalled in her memoir.
"And, of course, she realised this too, fully and keenly.
"Yet she did not give way."
In a post to X, her daughter Kerry Kennedy wrote: "She was a devout catholic and 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 grandchildren Maeve and Soairse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie."
A legacy of leadership
Many of her descendants became well known in politics and advocacy.
Daughter Kathleen became lieutenant governor of Maryland; Joseph represented Massachusetts in Congress; Courtney married Paul Hill, who had been wrongfully convicted of an Irish Republican Army bombing; Kerry became a human rights activist and president of the RFK centre; Christopher ran for Illinois governor; Max served as a prosecutor in Philadelphia and Douglas reported for Fox News Channel.
Her son Robert F Kennedy also became a national figure.
First he rose to prominence as an environmental lawyer but more recently, as a conspiracy theorist spreading false theories about vaccines.
He ran for president as an independent after briefly challenging Biden before suspending his campaign and endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Ethel did not comment publicly on her son's actions, although several other family members denounced him.
The legacy of one of the US' most storied families continues on in her 34 grandchildren and great nieces and nephews, many of whom work in politics, advocacy, business and the entertainment industry.
Fierce supporter and advocate
Born Ethel Skakel on April 11, 1928, she grew up in a country manor house in Connecticut as the sixth of seven children of coal magnate George and Ann Brannack Skakel.
She met Robert Kennedy through his sister Jean, her roommate at Manhattanville College.
The newlyweds moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he finished his last year of law school at the University of Virginia, and helped expand her world view by introducing her to people like Ralph Bunche, the first person of colour to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
They decided the safest place for him to stay during his visit was in their home.
"He was so charming and non-complaining, but they did throw things at our house all night long. It was so unthinkable and outrageous, but you got a little taste of what Black people in our country had to go through at that time," she said in the documentary.
Robert F Kennedy became chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee in 1957, and then was appointed attorney-general by his brother in 1960.
She supported his successful 1964 campaign for the US Senate in New York and his subsequent presidential bid.
Pregnant with their 11th child Rory when he was gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan, her look of shock and horror was captured in images that remained indelible decades later.
'Irrepressible spirit'
On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., she visited Indianapolis, where a monument commemorates the speech her husband gave that night in 1968, credited with averting rioting in the city.
"Of all the Kennedy women, she was the one I would end up admiring the most," Harry Belafonte would write of her.
"She wasn't play-acting. She looked at you and immediately got what you were about. Often in the coming years, when Bobby was baulking at something we wanted him to do for the movement, I'd take my case to Ethel. 'We have to talk to him,' she'd say, and she would."
In 2008, she joined brother-in-law Ted Kennedy and niece Caroline Kennedy in endorsing Senator Barack Obama for president, likening him to her late husband.
She later went to the Obama White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and meet Pope Francis. Obama called her "a dear friend with a passion for justice, an irrepressible spirit, and a great sense of humour".
"She touched the lives of countless people around the world with her generosity and grace, and was an emblem of enduring faith and hope, even in the face of unimaginable grief," Obama said on social media, one of many high-profile eulogies.
Obama and former president Bill Clinton held her hands as they climbed stairs to lay a wreath at president Kennedy's grave site on the 50th anniversary of his death.
Clinton remembered her on Thursday as a "fierce fighter for justice and equality" who built "one of the most effective human rights organizations in the world".
The centre she founded still advances human rights through litigation, advocacy, education and inspiration, giving annual awards to journalists, authors and others who have made significant contributions to human rights.
She also was active in the Coalition of Gun Control, Special Olympics, and the Earth Conservation Corps.
And she showed up in person, participating in a 2016 demonstration in support of higher pay for farm workers in Florida and a 2018 hunger strike against the Trump administration's immigration policies.
"She could be found anywhere human dignity was at stake, from picket lines to prisons, on every corner of the map," Clinton said.
"She was fearless and indefatigable, a true force of nature, guided by the teachings of her faith that call upon all of us to serve others."
