Ethel Kennedy, human rights advocate and widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, died on October 10, 2024, at the age of 96. She founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights shortly after her husband’s 1968 assassination and was known as a champion of social causes. Her dedication earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.
Born the sixth of seven children in Chicago in 1928, Ethel grew up in a 31-room English country–style manor in Greenwich, Connecticut. Her father, coal magnate George Skakel, was a self-made millionaire, and her mother, Ann, was a secretary. Ethel married Robert F. Kennedy in 1950. The couple shared 11 children: Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas, and Rory. Six years after they wed, the two bought Hickory Hill, a stately white brick house in McLean, Virginia, from Robert’s brother John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. The 13-bedroom home remained under Ethel’s ownership until 2009; her seasonal home at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where her large family congregated every summer, became her primary dwelling. She is survived by nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24-great-grandchildren.
“She has had a great summer and transition into fall,” a family statement published by NPR said of the late human rights activist. “Every day she enjoyed time with her children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She was able to get out on the water, visit the pier, and enjoy many lunches and dinners with family.”
Read on to revisit Ethel Kennedy’s iconic homes in Virginia and Massachusetts, both of which Architectural Digest toured.—Katie Schultz
This article originally appeared in the August 1987 issue of Architectural Digest.
The summer of 1986 marked another turning point in the life of Ethel Kennedy. Her oldest daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, was running for Congress in Maryland and her oldest son, Joseph P. Kennedy III, was campaigning for Tip O’Neill‘s congressional seat in Massachusetts.
Ethel Kennedy threw herself energetically into both campaigns, a role she hadn’t played since the late 1960s. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend recalls the reaction her mother got. “The whole staff was amazed. At fundraisers, she instinctively noticed the few people who were undecided and would go up to them and charm them. Without question, she is the best campaigner I’ve ever seen.”
