Ethel Kennedy, who had 11 children with her husband Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday. She was 96.
She was known as a matriarch of the Kennedy family, and after her husband's assassination, she poured much of her energy into raising their children.
Daughter Mary Kerry Kennedy wrote in an Instagram post about her mother’s death, “She was a devout Catholic and daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing that she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy.”
The 11 children of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy are: Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend, Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., David Anthony Kennedy, Courtney Kennedy Hill, Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, Mary Kerry Kennedy, Christopher George Kennedy, Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Douglas Harriman Kennedy and Rory Kennedy Bailey.
Here's more about Ethel Kennedy's extraordinary children:
Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951)
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was born on July 4, 1951,asthe first child of Ethel and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Townsend attended Harvard University and went to law school at the University of New Mexico.
From 1995 to 2003, Townsend served two terms as the lieutenant governor of Maryland, where she lived with her husband David Lee Townsend and their four children: Maeve Kennedy McKean, Kerry Sophia Kennedy Townsend, Rose Katherine Townsend and Meaghan Anne Townsend.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (September 24, 1952)
Joseph Patrick Kennedy II is the second-oldest child of Robert and Ethel. He served on the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999 for Massachusetts’s 8th congressional district.
Kennedy founded Citizens Energy Corporation in 1979, a non-profit energy company dedicated to making energy affordable. After leaving the company to serve in Congress for 12 years, he returned in 1999 as founder and chairman of the company, according to his official biography.
He has fraternal twin sons with his first wife Sheila: Matthew and Joseph Patrick III.
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (January 17, 1954)
Robert Francis Kennedy (RFK Jr.) was born on January 17, 1954. An environmentalist, he founded the non-profit organizations Waterkeeper Alliance, which supports clean water, and the Children’s Health Defense, whichexamines the impact of the environmentonchildren’s health. RFK has a combined six children from his marriages toEmily Ruth Black andMary Richardson:Bobby, Conor, Finn, Aidan, Kyra and Kick.
RFK Jr. is currently married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines and is a stepfather to her daughterCatherine Young.
After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, RFK Jr. has been campaigning with former president Donald Trump.
David Anthony Kennedy (June 15, 1955 - April 25, 1984)
David Kennedy died of a drug overdose when he was 28. At the age of 13, The New York Times reported, he witnessed his father being shot to death by assassin Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
"We all pray that David has finally found the peace that he did not find in life," Senator Edward M. Kennedy, David’s uncle, said in a statement at the time of his death in 1984, according to the Times.
Courtney Kennedy Hill (September 9, 1956)
Mary Courtney Kennedy Hill (known as "Courtney") was married to ABC sports producer Jeffrey Robert Ruhe for a decade before divorcing in 1990.
She then married Paul Michael Hill in 1996. He was part of the "Guildford Four" and was wrongly imprisoned for 15 years in connection with bombings by the IRA. He was portrayed by John Lynch in the 1993 film "In the Name of the Father."
They separated in 2006.
The pair had a daughter, Saoirse Roisin Hill, in 1997. She died at age 22 from an apparent overdose while staying at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (February 27, 1958 - December 31, 1997)
Michael L. Kennedy died on Dec. 31, 1997, when he was just 39 years old.
According toThe New York Times, Kennedy collided with a tree while playing football on skis, a favorite tradition of the family. Kennedy lost control and crashed into a treeon a mountain in Aspen, Colorado. He suffered a head injury and was pronounced dead 90 minutes later. His sister, Rory Kennedy, reached him almost immediately and attempted to resuscitate him, but the effort was unsuccessful.
Kennedy was a lawyer and had been chairman of Citizens Energy Corporation, his brotherJoseph Kennedy’snonprofit that delivered heating fuel to low-income households. He helped chair electioncampaigns for his brotherJoseph and his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
Allegations of infidelitybetween Kennedy and a teenage babysitter surfaced in 1987, though were never proven. Shortly after, he and his wifeVictoria Gifford Kennedy (daughterof formerNFLplayer and sportscasterFrank Gifford) filed for divorce. The divorce was not finalized by the time of his death.
Mary Kerry Kennedy (September 8, 1959)
Mary Kerry Kennedy (who goes by "Kerry") is a lawyer, activist and bestselling author. On her Instagram profile, she also describes herself as a "progressive Catholic" and a "lifelong feminist." Kerry is the president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.
She married Andrew Cuomo in 1990, and they divorced in 2005 while Cuomo was working as New York State Attorney General. The couple's twins,Cara Ethel Kennedy-CuomoandMariah Matilda Kennedy-Cuomo,were born in 1995, and their youngest,Michaela Andrea Kennedy-Cuomo,followed two years later.
Of her mother's death, Kerry wrote in an Instagram post, "She was a devout Catholic and daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing that she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy."
Christopher George Kennedy (July 4, 1963)
Christopher G. Kennedy, 61, is the eighth child of Ethel and Robert and theformer chairman of the board of trusteesfor Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, Inc., which manages the funds of the family. He received a B.A. in political science from Boston College in 1986, followed by M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
In 2018, Kennedy ran for governor of Illinois and lost in the Democratic primary. He previously served on theUniversity of Illinois Board of Trusteesas Chair from 2009 to 2015.
He is married to Sheila Sinclair-Berner and has four children.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (January 11, 1965)
Maxwell Kennedy graduated from Harvard, and thenreceived a law degreefrom the University of Virginia, his wife Vicki’s alma mater, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Max Kennedy was an assistant district attorney in the Philadelphia prosecutor’s office. Appointed by former President Barack Obama, he served as a member of the board of Directors oftheOverseas Private Investment Corporation(OPIC).
Maxwell Kennedy married Victoria Anne Strauss, and they have three children: Caroline, Noah and Max Kennedy Jr.
Douglas Harriman Kennedy (March 24, 1967)
Douglas Kennedy, the tenth child of Robert and Ethel, is a journalist who has worked at The New York Post, The Boston Herald, and most recentlyFOX Newsstarting in 1996. He graduated with a B.A. from Brown University.
He hasfive childrenwith his wife, Molly: Riley, Mary, Rowen, George and Anthony.
Rory Kennedy Bailey (December 12, 1968)
Six months after her father was shot and killed, Rory Elizabeth Katherine KennedyBailey was born. She is a documentary filmmaker who focuses on social justice. Her film "Last Days in Vietnam" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2015.
Rory Kennedy and her now-husband, Mark Bailey, had planned to wed on July 17, 1999. The couple postponed the wedding, however, due to a plane crash that ended up killing John F. Kennedy Jr., his wifeCarolyn Bessette-Kennedyand her older sister Lauren Bessette. The three were en route to the celebration when the accident occurred.
Instead of the lavish 300-person Cape Cod wedding they had planned, according to The Cape Cod Times, the couple got married in Greece two weeks later with 25 guests in attendance.
Elise Solé
Elise Solé is a writer and editor who lives in Los Angeles and covers parenting for TODAY Parents. She was previously a news editor at Yahoo and has also worked at Marie Claire and Women's Health. Her bylines have appeared in Shondaland, SheKnows, Happify and more.
Rosie Colosi
Rosie Colosi lives in New Jersey and is a reporter for TODAY Parents. She has bylines in The Atlantic, The Week, MSNBC, and PureWow, and she has written 33 nonfiction children's books for Scholastic, Klutz, and Nat Geo Kids. Once upon a time, she played Mrs. Claus in "The Rockettes' Radio City Christmas Spectacular," but now she mostly sings songs from "Annie" to her two daughters … while they beg her to play Kidz Bop.
