Sister to JFK Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at age 88: 'She was the light of our lives'

August 11, 12:20 PMPop Media ExaminerKatrina-Kasey Wheeler

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Eunice Kennedy in 1964 - AP

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of John F Kennedy has died at the age of 88. An official statement released by the family said: 'She was the light of our lives.' And 'She taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love and service to others.'

Shriver had suffered a series of strokes in recent years and died at 2 a.m. on Tuesday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, her family said in a statement. The hospital is near the Kennedy family compound, where her sole surviving brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy, has been battling brain cancer.

As celebrity, social worker and activist, Shriver was credited with transforming America's view of the mentally disabled from institutionalized patients to friends, neighbors and athletes. Her efforts were inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary.

MSNBC reports:

Shriver organized the first Special Olympics in 1968. She was inspired in part by the struggles of her mentally disabled sister, Rosemary Kennedy.

“She was a living prayer, a living advocate, a living center of power,” her family's statement added. “She set out to change the world and to change us, and she did that and more.

“She founded the movement that became Special Olympics, the largest movement for acceptance and inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities in the history of the world. Her work transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and they in turn are her living legacy.”

She is survived by her husband, Sargent Shriver. Shriver's children include Maria, a former television journalist who married California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

President Barack Obama praised Shriver for a life of helping of the disadvantaged. "Eunice was many things to many people: a mother who inspired her children to serve others; a wife who supported her husband Sargent in the Peace Corps and in politics; and a sister to her siblings, including brothers John, Robert, and Edward," the president said in a statement.

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