EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER DEAD AT AGE 88

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of President Kennedy and a fighter of the disabled has died this morning at 88. She founded the Special Olympics for the disabled. Born on July 10, 1921, in Brookline, Massachusetts, Shriver was the fifth of nine children to Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. She emerged from the background of family members John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Sen. Edward Kennedy as the founder of the Special Olympics, which started as a summer day camp in her backyard in 1962. Shriver’s husband, R. Sargent Shriver, and her five children and their spouses and all of her 19 grandchildren were with her when she died, the Special Olympics said in a statement to the press. “We are tremendously grateful for the extreme outpouring of support and prayer from the public as we honor our beloved founder,” Special Olympics President and Chief Operation Officer, Brady Lum, said Today in a statement. “Today we celebrate the life of a woman who had the vision to create our movement. It is an enormous loss, but I know we can rest assured that her legacy will live on through her family, friends, and the millions of people around the world who she touched and transformed.”

Editors Extra: Having met Eunice many times around New York City, we at Times Square Gossip will truly miss this icon. She was a wonderful lady with a huge heart.
Photo By: Walter McBride/Retna