Who is Ethel Kennedy? Wife of Robert F. Kennedy and social activist passes away at 96

Ethel Kennedy, a human rights activist and the widow of Robert F Kennedy, has died aged 96, her family said on Thursday.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Ethel Kennedy said, her mother died this morning from complications related to a stroke she suffered last week. She was hospitalized after suffering a stroke in her sleep on October 3.

Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Kerry Kennedy posted, “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our mother, Ethel Kennedy. Please keep our mother in your hearts and prayers.”

Kerry Kennedy further said along with a lifetime's work in social justice and human rights, her mother left behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great- grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly.

“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,” she added.

Born on April 11, 1928 in Chicago. She was the third child of a millionaire businessman George Skakel. She attended the all-girls Greenwich Academy, and graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in the Bronx in 1945. She graduated from Manhattanville in 1949.

Ethel first met Robert F. Kennedy (RFK)—brother of herclassmate Jean Kennedy—during a ski trip to Mont Tremblant Resort in December 1945. She married RFK—the future senator and attorney general—in 1950.

She was by her husband Robert F Kennedy’s side when the Democratic presidential candidate was fatally shot in a Los Angeles hotel kitchen in 1968. She founded the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights foundation months later, while still pregnant with their 11th child.

In 2014, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.