Ethel Kennedy, a human rights advocate and the widow of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died Thursday following a stroke she suffered last week. She was 96. The Kennedy matriarch was one of the last surviving members of the revered Camelot generation led by her husband and brother-in-law, and her death marks another sad milestone for one of the nation’s most prominent political families. Former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III, shared the news of Ethel Kennedy’s death Thursday, saying his grandmother died early Thursday of complications from the stroke that she suffered in her sleep. “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy,” Joseph Kennedy wrote. “Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly.” Ethel Kennedy, a devout Catholic who attended services daily, had eleven children in all, born from 1951 to 1968, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., her third child, recently abandoned his 2024 independent presidential bid and endorsed Republican former President Donald Trump. RFK Jr. did not immediately comment on his mother’s death. Ethel Kennedy was three months pregnant with her last-born child, Rory, when her husband was killed by an assassin’s bullet as he battled for the Democratic presidential nomination. She was by Robert Kennedy’s side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, shortly after the senator from New York won the Democratic presidential primary in California. Her brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier. He was the first Roman Catholic elected to the nation’s highest office. “Ethel Kennedy turned her profound pain into purpose as a champion for social justice and human rights who changed the world for the better, Gov. Hochul said in a statement. “Her passing is a tremendous loss,” Following her husband’s death, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization to carry on his “legacy and forge ahead with the unfinished work―all in pursuit of the dream of a more just and peaceful world,” according to its website. Ethel went on to work across several other human rights organizations, including the Coalition of Gun Control, which earned her the Congressional Medal of Freedom in 2014. “You don’t mess with Ethel,’’ then-President Obama said at the time. He added that her “love of family is matched only by her devotion to her nation.” Born into a wealthy Chicago family, Ethel Kennedy married Robert F. Kennedy in 1950 after the couple were introduced by his sister, Jean. Her long life was tinged with untimely loss, both before and after the stunning assassinations of her husband and brother-in-law. Ethel Kennedy’s parents were killed in a plane crash in 1955, and her brother died in a 1966 crash. Two of her sons died before her: David Kennedy of a drug overdose in 1984; and Michael Kennedy in a 1997 skiing accident. Her nephew, John F. Kennedy Jr., died in a 1999 plane crash along with his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law. Granddaughter Saoirse Kennedy Hill died of an apparent drug overdose in 2019. Ethel Kennedy was linked to several men after her husband’s death, most notably “Moon River” singer Andy Williams. who died in 2012. However, she never remarried. With News Wire Services