HYANNIS, Mass. -- President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a champion for the rights of the mentally disabled and founder of the Special Olympics, has died. She was 88.
Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis on Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling brain cancer.
Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.
Shriver also was the sister of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, the wife of 1972 vice presidential candidate and former Peace Corps director R. Sargent Shriver, and the mother-in-law of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081100702.html
