Kara Kennedy Allen, the daughter of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, died Friday while at a Washington-area health club. She was 51.
Her death was reported by her brother, Patrick, the former Representative from Rhode Island, who told The Associated Press that “she’s with dad.” Their father died in August 2009.
Ms. Allen, the eldest of Mr. Kennedy’s children, led a more private life than most Kennedys of her generation. She was a shy person, who was able to go out in public without being recognized. But she also traveled with her father from time to time; in 1984, she went with him to a refugee camp in Ethiopia during a famine.
In 2003, Ms. Allen developed lung cancer, which some doctors deemed inoperable. But she found surgeons who were willing to proceed, and her cancer went into remission. In 2009, she accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his behalf of ailing father.
Patrick Kennedy told The A.P. that he thought his sister’s cancer treatment “took quite a toll on her and weakened her physically.” He says “her heart gave out.”
Ms. Allen graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts. She served on several nonprofit boards, including the National Advisory Board for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome . She was also a director emeriti of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and had previously worked as a television producer.
Survivors include her two children, her mother Joan Kennedy, and her brothers, Edward Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy.
Ms. Allen, the eldest of Mr. Kennedy’s children, led a more private life than most Kennedys of her generation. She was a shy person, who was able to go out in public without being recognized. But she also traveled with her father from time to time; in 1984, she went with him to a refugee camp in Ethiopia during a famine.
In 2003, Ms. Allen developed lung cancer, which some doctors deemed inoperable. But she found surgeons who were willing to proceed, and her cancer went into remission. In 2009, she accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his behalf of ailing father.
Patrick Kennedy told The A.P. that he thought his sister’s cancer treatment “took quite a toll on her and weakened her physically.” He says “her heart gave out.”
Ms. Allen graduated from Tufts University in Massachusetts. She served on several nonprofit boards, including the National Advisory Board for the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome . She was also a director emeriti of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and had previously worked as a television producer.
Survivors include her two children, her mother Joan Kennedy, and her brothers, Edward Kennedy Jr. and Patrick Kennedy.
