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Kyle Francis Kennedy, an educator and granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy, died last month at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts, after a severe spinal cord injury that left her with long-term paralysis. She was 42.
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Kennedy died on September 21, with her cause of death pending, Westwood Town Clerk Dottie Powers told NBC News.
Kennedy "passed away peacefully" after having "built a career devoted to early childhood education," Burke Funeral Homes said in a statement, describing her as blessed with a formidable intellect, dry wit and beauty.
Kennedy grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and attended Milton Academy before Georgetown University. She earned a master's degree in early education from Pace University and another in education policy from Harvard. She spent two years in the Teach for America program in New York City public schools, and went on to become a passionate advocate for more equitable elementary education and charter schooling, later working with technology companies focused on reforming school curricula.
Kennedy was the daughter of Michael LeMoyne Kennedy, the sixth child of RFK and Ethel Kennedy, who died in a skiing accident in Colorado in 1997. She ran the 2019 Boston Marathon under her married name, Kyle Kerr.
In 2020, she suffered a severe spinal cord injury that resulted in long-term paralysis and other medical challenges. In the years that followed, she fought to maintain her dry wit and determination, trying to be the best possible mother to her sons. She also began advocating for people living with disabilities, including testifying at the Massachusetts State House in a hearing on discrimination in disabled health care.
Kennedy is survived by her sons Conor, 12, and Declan, 10; her ex-husband Liam Kerr; her mother Victoria Denise Gifford; her brother Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Jr; and her sister Rory Gifford Kennedy. She also had a daughter, Josephine, Conor's twin, who died shortly after birth.
