Rory Kennedy paid tribute to her late niece Kyle Kennedy following her tragic death at 42.
“Kyle was a wonder – as mother of her beautiful boys, as a daughter, a sister, a friend. And as an educator, too,” Rory said in a statement to People Tuesday.
The documentary filmmaker described Kyle as “funny and fierce and much beloved by all of us.”
“She will be deeply missed,” Rory added.
Rory is the 11th and youngest child of Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy.
Kyle, the daughter of Michael LeMoyne Kennedy — who died in 1997 — and Victoria Denise Gifford, was one of Bobby and Ethel’s 34 grandchildren.
She passed away in her Westwood, Massachusetts, home on Sept. 21, according to her obituary.
Kyle’s death comes six years after she suffered a severe spinal cord injury resulting in long-term paralysis.
In her final years, Kyle advocated for people living with disabilities, even testifying at the Massachusetts State House in a hearing on discrimination in disabled healthcare.
She is survived by sons Conor, 12, and Declan, 10, whom she had with Liam Kerr.
Kyle and Kerr wed in 2012, though he was referred to as the deceased’s “former husband” in the obituary.
The exes, during their time together, also welcomed daughter Josephine, Conor’s twin sister, but the infant died days after her birth.
Kyle is also survived by her two siblings — Michael, 43, and Rory, 38 — as well as four nieces and nephews and her mom.
Gifford gave birth to Kyle on July 6, 1984, in Washington, DC, with her then-husband, Michael, who died in a 1997 skiing accident at 39.
Kyle attended Milton Academy, a private high school, before studying history at Georgetown University.
She later attended Pace University, where she earned a master’s degree in early education.
Kyle also attended graduate school at Harvard University, where she obtained a master’s degree in education policy and management.
After graduating college, she worked in New York City as a Teach For America teacher.
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