WASHINGTON: Ethel Kennedy, a long-time human rights advocate who endured a series of tragedies that included the assassination of her husband, Robert F Kennedy, and the untimely deaths of two of their 11 children, died on Thursday at the age of 96, her grandson Joseph Kennedy III said in a social media post.

“It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kenn­edy. She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week,” Kennedy said in a post on X. Kennedy, who was a devout Catholic, sought to carry on her husband’s works with the founding of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights centre.

She was the mother of former independent presidential candidate and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who recently broke from his family’s traditional Democratic affiliation to endorse Donald Trump.

Ethel had been by her husband’s side throughout his career and was beside him when he lay in a hotel kitchen in 1968, mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2024