Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith died on Wednesday night.
Smith, who was the last surviving sibling of former President John F. Kennedy, died in Manhattan at the age of 92. Her daughter, Kym Smith, confirmed her death to NBC on Thursday.
“She lived an amazing life,” Kym Smith said.
While much of her life was spent in the shadows of her brothers, Jean Kennedy Smith was appointed as ambassador to Dublin in 1993 by President Bill Clinton while her brother, Ted Kennedy, was a top Democrat in Congress. She was the first female Kennedy from her era to take a role as a public official. While ambassador, Smith met with Gerry Adams, the head of the Irish Republican Army’s political wing, Sinn Fein, and helped to negotiate a ceasefire in Northern Ireland.
Smith was also known for her philanthropic work and leadership at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She founded Very Special Arts, a program at the Kennedy Center that taught creative writing, acting, dancing, and other forms of art to physically or mentally handicapped people throughout the United States and abroad.
Smith was the mother of two daughters and two sons and the grandmother of six grandchildren. She was the eighth of nine Kennedy children.
