Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (February 27, 1958 – December 31, 1997) was an American lawyer, businessman, and activist in Massachusetts. He was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy. Kennedy also served as the manager of the non-profit organization Citizens Energy. He died in Aspen, Colorado, in 1997 after inadvertently skiing into a tree.
Early life, family, and education
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was born on February 27, 1958, in Washington, D.C. He was named LeMoyne for Kirk LeMoyne Billings, the preparatory school roommate of his paternal uncle, John F. Kennedy, and a Kennedy family friend.
Kennedy graduated from Harvard College in 1980 and subsequently earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984. While in college, he was credited with recovering a stolen wristwatch from a thief while on a sightseeing tour in Colombia. In 1985, Kennedy was admitted to the Massachusetts bar.
Kennedy married Victoria Denise Gifford, daughter of former NFL player and sportscaster Frank Gifford, on March 14, 1981 in New York City. They had one son, Michael LeMoyne Kennedy Jr. (b. 1983); and two daughters, Kyle Francis Kennedy (b. 1984) and Rory Gifford Kennedy (b. 1987). The family resided in Cohasset, Massachusetts. Kennedy briefly worked for a private law firm before becoming chairman of his brother Joseph's non-profit organization, Citizens Energy Corporation in 1986, which provides heating oil and services to elderly and low-income households in Massachusetts. Under Kennedy, Citizens diversified to provide discount AIDS-related medications to uninsured patients.
In 1992, Kennedy, his wife Victoria, and his mother Ethel made a cameo appearance on the NBC sitcom Cheers in Boston.
Allegations
In 1997, allegations were reported that Kennedy was having an affair with the family's underage former babysitter, beginning when she was just 14 years old. Soon after the scandal began, Kennedy and his wife separated. Kennedy and his older brother Joseph (who withdrew from the 1998 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, in part because of the scandal) After the accident, Kennedy's younger sister Rory Kennedy tried to save his life by giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until medical help arrived.
After medical help arrived, Kennedy was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:50 p.m.
He was interred on January 3, 1998, in the family plot at Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.
See also
- Kennedy family
- Kennedy curse
- List of skiing deaths