Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies
Eunice Kennedy Shriver is dead at age 88. She is the sister of former President John F. Kennedy, the mother of Maria Shriver and the mother-in-law of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
She is best known for creating the Special Olympics, which allows people with disabilities to compete in athletic events.
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President John F. Kennedy’s sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family’s public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the rights of the mentally disabled, died Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement. She was 88.
Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at 2 a.m. at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling a brain tumor.
As celebrity, social worker and activist, Shriver was credited with transforming America’s view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.
Peter Collier, author of “The Kennedys, an American Drama,” called Eunice Shriver the “moral force” of the Kennedy family.
