Ethel Kennedy‘s death at the age of 96 on October 10 marks the passing of one of the few remaining figures of the Kennedy generation of the mid-20th century, defining a bygone era of American politics.
Ethel was the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, the former attorney general and presidential hopeful who was assassinated in June of 1968, during his election campaign. Ethel was also the sister-in-law to John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, who also fell victim to assassination in November 1963.
Following the tragic loss of her husband, Ethel co-founded and chaired the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, later helped by some of the eleven children she shared with the late politician.
Who are Ethel and Robert Kennedy senior’s children?
Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s eleven children, from oldest to youngest, are as follows:
- Kathleen (born 1951)
- Joseph (born 1952)
- Robert Jr. (born 1954)
- David (born 1955)
- Mary Courtney (born 1956)
- Michael (born 1958)
- Mary Kerry (born 1959)
- Christopher (born 1963)
- Maxwell (born 1965)
- Douglas (born 1967)
- Rory (born 1968)
Robert and Ethel’s youngest child, Rory, was born six months after her father’s assassination, in December 1968. Rory is now a documentary filmmaker, and directed Ethel, a 2012 documentary about her mother.
David Anthony, their third son, died in 1984 as a result of a drug overdose aged 29. Michael LeMoyne, the fourth son, died in 1997 at the age of 39 as a result of a skiing accident.
Several Kennedy family children have gone into politics, following in their father’s footsteps. The most notable of Robert and Ethel’s children is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was a member of the Democratic Party before his unsuccessful presidential run for the 2024 election, standing as an independent candidate.
After suspending his campaign, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Republican candidate Donald Trump, leading to a statement of condemnation released by his siblings in response, criticizing him for failing to live up to the advocacy for human rights that his namesake father had.
“We believe in Harris and Walz,” the 2024 statement read. “Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”
Robert and Ethel’s oldest child, Kathleen, was the lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. Joseph P. Kennedy II, the oldest son and named after Robert’s father Joseph, was a congressman for Massachusetts’s 8th district from 1987 to 1999.
Mary Kerry, the youngest daughter, is currently the President of the now-named Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Advocacy group that her mother founded. Mary’s brothers, Matthew and Douglas, are now lawyers, with the former having campaigned for Barack Obama’s successful 2008 Presidential run.
Christopher George, the eighth child, is a businessman, similarly hosted private fundraisers for Obama’s campaigns, and works in private and non-profit investment. Courtney, legally named Mary Courtney, is the only sibling in the family who hasn’t worked in politics on some level, and lives as a private citizen.