Ethel Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s Mother, Dead At 96

At 96 years old, Ethel Kennedy died on October 10, 2024. One of Ethel's daughters, Kerry Kennedy, took to X, formerly Twitter, to share the news. "She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week," Kerry wrote. Ethel was married to the late Robert F. Kennedy, and she is survived by nine of her 11 children, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Her life was filled with difficult events — such as her husband's assassination and the deaths of two of her children — but Ethel's Catholic faith helped her through it all.

In a discussion with People from 2012, Ethel responded to a question on how she dealt with hardships in her life by saying, "I pretty well lived in the moment. And I was blessed with faith." That faith was also important after RFK's assassination in 1968, which followed another tragedy of the Kennedy family: John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination. Ethel also told the outlet, "I'd wake up in the morning and think he was happy in heaven, and he had Jack — and they were together as they had been together on earth." She added, "I didn't think how I would survive. I knew it would happen, but I didn't know how."

Kerry mentioned Ethel's Catholicism in her tweet, remarking how, through the beliefs of her mother's faith, Ethel, RFK, and other late members of the Kennedy family were together again.

Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy met in 1945 and married in 1950. A fictionalized account of their love story was actually the inspiration for Taylor Swift's song "Starlight." Ethel created the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in his honor after he was killed. The organization shared a tribute to Ethel on their website after her death, describing some of the activism work she did throughout her life: "Over her 96 years, she has been a champion for justice, standing with human rights defenders around the globe — from breaking bread with Cesar Chavez to marching with the Immokalee farm workers to advocating before a Kenyan dictator for justice for human rights activists."

They also showed Ethel's tenacity and bravery by sharing a quote from her, which said, "For anyone to achieve something, he must show a little courage. You're only on this earth once. You must give it all you've got." In 2014, Ethel was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama for her activism, which also included caring for the environment.

Other members of the Kennedy family, such as Maria Shriver (John F. Kennedy and RFK's niece), took to social media to remember Ethel after her passing. On X, Shriver wrote about how lovely of an aunt and person Ethel was and said, "It's impossible to put her life in a caption."