Kyle Kennedy, one of Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy’s 34 grandchildren, has died. She was 42.
“Kyle Francis Kennedy passed away peacefully on September 21, 2026, at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts,” the educator’s obituary read.
A cause of death has not been revealed. Funeral services were private, according to the obituary.
Kyle was born on July 6, 1984, in Washington, D.C., to parents Michael (who died in 1997) and Victoria Denise Gifford. Victoria, 69, is the daughter of Frank Gifford and Maxine Avis Ewart and is Kathie Lee Gifford’s stepdaughter.
Kyle spent most of her life in Massachusetts, “where she built a career devoted to early childhood education,” according to her obituary. She majored in history at Georgetown University in D.C. and later earned a Master of Science in early education from Pace University, as well as a Master of Education in education policy and management from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Kyle began her career teaching in the program Teach for America in New York City. She was also an advocate for more equitable elementary education and charter schooling.
Kyle Kennedy Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
“Kyle was naturally fast and competitive,” her obituary read. “Throughout her life, she could frequently be seen outrunning her peers on playgrounds, soccer pitches, and lacrosse fields, while in quieter moments tenaciously pursuing all out victory in trivial pursuit or card games. As an adult, she developed a passion for long-distance running and in 2019 completed the Boston Marathon in a driving rainstorm, beating her own father’s time by 20 minutes.”
The page continued, “Kyle loved art, animals, and travel. She can be seen in photos bundled head to toe in a down jacket inside a Scandinavian ice cave, enjoying the sun on the beaches of Cape Cod and Nantucket, and smiling beside a band of mountain gorillas in Uganda.”
Kyle married Liam Kerr in August 2012. The pair went on to welcome twins Conor and Josephine in 2014, although the latter tragically died days after her birth. Kyle and Kerr later welcomed son Declan in 2016. While the couple’s divorce was never reported, the obituary refers to Kerr as Kyle’s “former husband.”
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In 2020, Kyle suffered a severe spinal cord injury that resulted in long-term paralysis and disability. She began advocating for others with disabilities, including “testifying at the Massachusetts state house in a hearing on discrimination in disabled health care.”
Kyle is survived by Kerr and their two sons; her mother; her brother, Michael, his wife, Mary, and their children, McKie and Quinn; and her sister, Rory, her husband, David, and their children, Jack and Caleb.
Kyle’s death comes less than a year after Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of late President John F. Kennedy, lost her battle with leukemia at age 35.
