Eunice Kennedy Shriver has died at the age of 88 at a Cape Cod hospital, after suffering a series of strokes. She was a sister of President John F. Kennedy and Sens. Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, and the fifth of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Shriver was the founder of the Special Olympics and devoted herself to helping those with mental disabilities.
In a 1962 article in the Saturday Evening Post, Shriver revealed that her older sister, Rosemary Kennedy, was developmentally disabled. Rosemary had been institutionalized since the age of 23. Her father arranged for her to have a prefrontal lobotomy in 1941, an experimental operation which destroyed part of her brain, leaving her in an infantlike state. She was later kept out of sight at other institutions snd secluded from her family. Shriver’s candor about her sister helped raised awareness about proper treatment for those with mental disabilities.
In 1982, Shriver founded the Community of Caring, an organization devoted to at-risk teens. Their work focuses on issues such as preventing teenange pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and encourages teens to stay in school and develop proper values. Shriver’s political activism on behalf of those who are mentally disabled and at-risk teens helped earn her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984, the nation’s highest civilian award.
