Michael LeMoyne Kennedy
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| Michael Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 27, 1958 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | December 31, 1997 (aged 39) Aspen, Colorado |
| Alma mater | Harvard College Univ. of Virginia - Law |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Spouse | Victoria Gifford (1981-1997) |
| Children | Three children |
| Parents | Robert F. Kennedy Ethel Skakel |
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (February 27, 1958 – December 31, 1997), was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.
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[edit] Education
Kennedy graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Harvard College in 1980, and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984.
[edit] Personal life
Michael Kennedy married Victoria Gifford (b. February 20, 1957),[1] daughter of former pro football player and sportscaster Frank Gifford and Maxine Avis Ewart, on March 14, 1981 in New York City.
They had three children, residing in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
In 1997, the news broke that Michael Kennedy was having an affair with the family's former babysitter. Allegations were reported that the affair had begun three years before when the babysitter was 14 years old, although Kennedy took and passed three lie detector tests claiming he had not had sex with the Cohasset teen until she was 16 years old, the legal age of consent in Massachusetts at the time. Kennedy was placed under investigation for statutory rape.[citation needed] However, the babysitter did not cooperate with prosecutors.[citation needed] Shortly after the scandal began, Michael Kennedy and his wife separated.[citation needed] After the affair, Michael Kennedy checked himself into a rehab center for alcoholics.
[edit] Career
Michael Kennedy was the head of his brother Joe's non-profit organization, Citizens Energy Corporation. He also helped organize his uncle Ted Kennedy's re-election campaign against Mitt Romney in 1994.
[edit] Death
Kennedy died at the end of 1997 in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado. He was playing ski-football with several other members of the Kennedy family when he hit a tree. Kennedy was not wearing a helmet or other safety equipment. Some have alleged that the family had been previously warned by the ski patrol to cease the activity.[2] Others have noted that the ski patrol issued no such warnings.[3]
