Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a member of the famous Kennedy clan, died in Hyannis, Massachusetts on August 11, 2009 at the age of 88, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She was the fifth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy.
Eunice and her husband Sargent Shriver helped to found Special Olympics in the 1960’s as a national organization. They had five children: Robert Sargent Shriver III, Maria Owings Shriver, Timothy Perry Shriver, Mark Kennedy Shriver and Anthony Paul Kennedy Shriver.
Daughter Maria is married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, currently the Governor of California.
Shriver graduated with a Bachelor of Science in sociology from Stanford University and became a social worker at Alderson Federal Penitentiary for Women and then moved on to Chicago, working for the House of the Good Shepherd and the Chicago Juvenile Court.
Eunice Shriver campaigned for her brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy during his successful 1960 U.S. presidential election. She was an opponent of abortion, supported the Feminists for Life of America, the Susan B. Anthony List, and Democrats for Life of America.
She was present at American University, Washington D.C. on January 28, 2008, when her brother, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy announced his endorsement of Barack Obama‘s U.S. presidential campaign.
Another famous brother, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while campaigning for president in 1968. Shriver is survived by siblings Ted Kennedy and a sister, former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith.
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