NEED TO KNOW
- Kyle Kennedy has died at age 42
- The granddaughter of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy died at home in Westwood, Mass., on Sept. 21
- Years before her death, Kyle sustained a spinal cord injury in 2020 and became an advocate for people with disabilities
Kyle Kennedy’s cause of death has not yet been determined after the daughter of Michael Kennedy died at age 42.
A death certificate obtained by PEOPLE lists Kyle’s immediate cause of death as “pending,” and states that her manner of death is under investigation.
The certificate confirms that Kyle died on Sept. 21 at her Westwood, Mass., home. The educator was one of Robert F. “Bobby” Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy’s 34 grandchildren.
Kyle was born on July 6, 1984, in Washington, D.C to Michael — who died in 1997 — and Victoria Denise Gifford, the daughter of Frank Gifford and Maxine Avis Ewart, and Kathie Lee Gifford’s stepdaughter.
Kyle attended Georgetown University, where she earned a history degree, and 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 her master’s in education policy and management.
She married Liam Kerr in 2012 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, and shared three children with him. She first gave birth to twins Conor and Josie, but days after her birth, their daughter tragically died. Two years later, they welcomed son Declan.
Kyle’s obituary refers to Kerr as her “former husband,” and her death certificate lists her marital status as “divorced.”
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Kyle sustained a severe spinal cord injury in 2020, after which she experienced long-term paralysis. The incident led her to become an advocate for others living with disabilities, and she testified at the Massachusetts State House during a hearing on discrimination in health care for people with disabilities.
Kyle is survived by her 12-year-old Conor and 10-year-old Declan as well as her mother; brother Michael; sister Rory; and nieces and nephews McKie, Quinn, Jack and Caleb.
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