President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a champion for the rights of the mentally disabled and founder of the Special Olympics, has already died. She was 88.Members of Shriver's politically powerful family, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, bid farewell earlier Monday in visits to Cape Cod Hospital in the northeastern state.
Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in Some Days and died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis this morning,She is the,her family said in a statement. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling brain cancer.
Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.
Shriver also was the sister of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the wife of 1972 vice presidential candidate and former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Early in life Rosemary was different," she wrote in a 1962 article for the Saturday Evening Post. "She was slower to crawl, slower to walk and speak. ... Rosemary was mentally retarded." Rosemary Kennedy underwent a lobotomy when she was 23, though that wasn't mentioned in the article. She lived most of her life in an institution in Wisconsin and died in 2005 at age 86.
Born Eunice Mary Kennedy
July 10, 1921
Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Died August 11, 2009 (aged 88)
Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Spouse(s) Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr.
Parents Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy (née Fitzgerald)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Some Latest Live Still picture
July 10, 1921
Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Died August 11, 2009 (aged 88)
Hyannis, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Spouse(s) Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr.
Parents Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy (née Fitzgerald)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Some Latest Live Still picture
