Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert F. Kennedy, mother of 11 and social activist, has died at 96.
She spent more than half of her long life in the public eye as a devoted wife, mother, and formidable social activist who raised awareness and funding for causes, including human rights, poverty and gun control. The public watched, too, as she bore the crushing grief of too much death too young in life: from the assassinations of both Robert F. and John F. Kennedy to the accidental death of her parents and brother; and the children, nephews and grandchildren who died before their time.
Here are photos from her 70-plus years in the spotlight.
Robert Kennedy and his wife Ethel Kennedy aboard the French liner Ile de France in 1955. (John Lent/AP)The Robert F. Kennedy family takes a walk at the Kennedy home in McLean, Va., on Dec. 30, 1959. From left: Ethel Kennedy; Courtney, 3; Kathleen, 8; Joseph Patrick, 7; Robert Kennedy with one and a half-year-old Michael on his back; Bobby, 5; and David, 4. (Henry Griffin/AP)In this December, 1960 photo, then President-elect John F. Kennedy, standing at center, is surrounded by members of his family in home of his parents in Hyannis Port, Mass. Standing, left to right, are Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert Kennedy; Steven Smith and wife Jean Kennedy Smith; Robert Kennedy; Patricia Kennedy Lawford; Sargent Shriver, Joan Kennedy, wife of Edward Kennedy; and Peter Lawford. Foreground, left to right: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Joseph P. Kennedy and wife Rose Kennedy seated in front; Jacqueline Kennedy; and Edward Kennedy. (AP photo)Ethel Kennedy talks with Keizo T. Takahashi, master of ceremony, during her appearance in a TV show in Japan on Feb. 5, 1962 in Tokyo. At left is interpreter Kumiko Takeuchi. (AP photo)Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy shortly after announcing he will seek the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1964. (AP Photo)Robert F. Kennedy speaks to campaign workers minutes before his assassination in 1968. (AP photo)Edward M. Kennedy with Ethel Kennedy and others at the airport in Los Angeles, June 6, 1968 as they depart with the body of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. (Harold Filan/AP)Edward Kennedy escorts Ethel Kennedy to their pew for the funeral services of Robert F. Kennedy in St. Patrick's cathedral in New York, June 8, 1968. (AP photo)Ethel Kennedy, brother-in-law Edward Kennedy, and her children leave St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York after Robert F. Kennedy's funeral in 1968. (AP photo)A joyful and proud Ethel Kennedy introduces her newborn daughter, Rory Elizabeth Catherine, her eleventh child. With her is her brother-in-law Edward M. Kennedy. (AP photo)Ethel Kennedy smiles at Forest Hills tennis matches in 1972. (Ray Howard/AP)Ethel Kennedy and some of her children sit in a car outside of Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., the day of her daughter Kathleen's wedding to David Townsend in 1973. (AP photo)Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, widow of the late President John F. Kennedy, and Ethel Kennedy listen to a speech by President Reagan during a fund raising event for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library in1985. (Charles Tasnadi/AP)Ethel Kennedy and Santa Claus meet with children at the skating rink of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in Brooklyn during the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Skating party for disadvantaged children in 1986. (Rick Maiman/AP)Sen. Edward Kennedy, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Bill Clinton and Ethel Kennedy listen to a remembrance delivered by Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II during a memorial Mass in honor of Robert F. Kennedy on the 25th anniversary of his death in 1993. (Marcy Nighswander/AP)U.S. Rep. John Lewis talks with those gathered, including Ethel Kennedy, on the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in 2012, 47 years after the historic march that led to the Voting Rights Act. (Kevin Glackmeyer/AP)Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Kyra Kennedy, Jean Kennedy Smith, Ethel Kennedy, Rory Kennedy, Mark Bailey and Conor Kennedy attend the premiere of the HBO documentary "Ethel" in 2012. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ethel Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy and Mariah Kennedy Cuomo in 2013. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)President Obama awards Ethel Kennedy the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)Ethel Kennedy and daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 2016. (Elise Amendola/AP)Ethel Kennedy holds hands with grandson Joseph P. Kennedy III, left, while Navy Secretary Ray Mabus chats with her daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, as they pose near a rendering of the Robert F. Kennedy Navy Ship in 2016. (Elise Amendola/AP)Robert And Ethel Kennedy at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball in 1961. (AP photo)
