Eunice Kennedy Shriver - Later Years and Death

Later Years and Death

Shriver, who was believed to have suffered from Addison's disease, suffered a stroke and a broken hip in 2005, and on November 18, 2007, she was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where she spent several weeks.

On August 9, 2009, she was admitted to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, with an undisclosed ailment.

On August 10, her relatives were called to the hospital. Early the following morning, Shriver died at the hospital; she was 88 years old. No other Kennedy, with the exception of her mother, Rose, has, to date, lived longer.

Shriver's family issued a statement upon her death, reading in part

"Inspired by her love of God, her devotion to her family, and her relentless belief in the dignity and worth of every human life, she worked without ceasing—searching, pushing, demanding, hoping for change. She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power. She set out to change the world and to change us, and she did that and more. She founded the movement that became Special Olympics, the largest movement for acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in the history of the world. Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and they in turn are her living legacy."

President Barack Obama remarked after Shriver's death that she was "an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation—and our world—that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit."