Jean Kennedy Smith (1928-2020), an Inspiration and Role Model for the Kennedy Family

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Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith passed away on June 17,2020 at her home in New York City. 

The JFK Foundation issued the following statement:

"Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith was an inspiration and a role model for our family. She played a central role in the Irish Peace Process, was a longtime Trustee at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and carried forward our family’s work on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities as the founder of Very Special Arts.

"With her husband, Stephen E. Smith, and her beloved brother Ted, she played a vital role in the life of the JFK Library, helping to establish the Library on Columbia Point and generously supporting the JFK Library Foundation.

"Jean was always coming up with good ideas - and making sure that other people executed them. She was the person who first suggested that the JFK Library Foundation present an annual Profile in Courage Award as a way of honoring her brother’s memory. Thirty years later, the Award has become recognized as the “Nobel Prize for Politics” and is her legacy as well.

"Her son, Stephen Kennedy Smith, carries on her work as a member of the Foundation’s board of directors and the author of JFK: A Vision for America."

In 2007, the Eire Society of Boston gave Ambassador Smith its Gold Medal Award in recognition of her extraordinary service to the arts and for her central role in Northern Ireland's peace process.  

Read the JFK Library biography of Jean Kennedy Smith.


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