Michael Kennedy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Kennedy | |
| Born | February 27, 1958 Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| Died | December 31, 1997 (aged 39) Aspen, Colorado |
| Spouse | Victoria Gifford (1981-1997; until his death) |
| Children | Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Jr., Kyle Frances Kennedy, and Rory Gifford Kennedy |
| Parents | Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel |
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (February 27, 1958 – December 31, 1997), was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. He was a nephew of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator of Massachusetts Edward M. Kennedy. He had six brothers and four sisters. His siblings, from oldest to youngest, are Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (b. 1951), Joseph Patrick Kennedy II (b. 1952), Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (b.1954), David Anthony Kennedy (1955-1984), Courtney Kennedy Hill (b. 1956), Kerry Kennedy (b. 1959), Christopher George Kennedy (b. 1963), Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (b.1965), Douglas Harriman Kennedy (b. 1967), and Rory Kennedy (b. 1968).
Contents |
[edit] Education
Kennedy graduated with a B.S. from Harvard University in 1980. He graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1984.
[edit] Personal life
Michael Kennedy married Victoria (b. February 20, 1957),[1] daughter of Frank Gifford and Maxine Avis Ewart, on March 14, 1981 in New York, New York.
They had three children:
- Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Jr. (b. January 9, 1983, in Charlottesville, Virginia);
- Kyle Frances Kennedy (b. July 6, 1984, in Washington, D.C.);
- Rory Gifford Kennedy, (b. November 14, 1987, in Dorchester, Massachusetts).
In 1997, the news broke that Michael Kennedy was having an affair with the family's former babysitter. Allegedly, the affair had begun three years before when the babysitter was a fourteen-year-old teenager, and Kennedy was placed under investigation for statutory rape. However, the babysitter did not cooperate with prosecutors. Shortly after the scandal began, Michael Kennedy and his wife separated. After the affair, Michael Kennedy checked himself into a rehab center for alcoholics.
[edit] Career
Michael Kennedy was the head of his brother Joseph's non-profit organization, Citizen's Energy Corporation. He also helped organize Edward M. Kennedy's re-election campaign against Mitt Romney in 1994.
[edit] Death
Michael Kennedy died at the end of 1997 in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado. He was skiing with several other members of the Kennedy family when he hit a tree while they were playing football on skis. Kennedy was not wearing a helmet or other safety equipment, and was reportedly filming the football game on a camcorder.
